The Dark Knight
by Adalind
Summary: The dark and graphic AU story of Ric Manoso when he never joined the army & sorted his life out. Steph runs into him when he goes FTA. Bad boy Ric is still damn hot in this, trust me. Join me for an action packed ride with spies, murder & steamy smut.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I decided to propose the challenge to my yahoo group to write 'Ranger if he'd never clean his act up and joined the army,' and then my damn muse started coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas, despite the fact that I wasn't going to play, as I had Cake and AFILAW to write. So this is my take on bad Ranger.

Trenton and the Plumverse is as we know it from the books, except for Ranger. It gets explained in the story, but it is totally and utterly AU. If you don't like angst, violence, or any of my other dark writings then I'd suggest that you bugger off now. On a side note, Black Hawk Security is my baby, but everything else belongs to JE.

**The Dark Knight**

**Part One of Two**

My name is Stephanie Plum, and I'm a Bond Enforcement agent for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. And when I'm short of cash, which is most of the time, I run searches for Black Hawk Security. Black Hawk is run by Pierre Thibideaux, a mountain of a guy from the deep south, who thankfully goes by the street name of Tank. Tank helped me out when I first began bounty hunting, seeing as I had no clue about what the heck I was doing. He still helps out when I find myself neck deep in crap and sinking fast, which is unfortunately more often than I'd like. He's a decent guy, and also the long term boyfriend of Lula, my sometimes bounty hunting partner and office file clerk down at the bonds office.

Black Hawk handles the high bonds for Vinnie, leaving me with the middle and chump change stuff. To be honest, I think that the guys at Black Hawk have an easier time at it than I do. The majority of my skips are total and utter lunatics, and I spend a lot of time chasing half-naked fat guys down alleys or crawling out of garbage. Still, it pays the rent, mostly, sometimes.

Today I found myself parked on Stark in my POS Chevy Nova with the one and only file I had right now. If I didn't bring this guy in then my rent would be late again and I knew that I'd lose my lease. I glanced back down at the file and shuddered. Ricardo Carlos 'Ranger' Manoso was wanted for nothing more than speeding a few too many times, but that wasn't even the half of it; the guy was serious bad news. Ranger ran a huge operation down here on Stark, it didn't matter what you wanted, Ranger could get it for you; fast cars, guns and munitions, drugs, or a woman for the night. Nothing was too big or too small for Ranger to deal in, and he was extremely territorial. The Trenton PD had never been able to get anything to stick to this guy; witnesses had a habit of vanishing or turning up dead. Even the guy that the Feds stashed in a safe house ended up vanishing off the face of the earth. Ranger was just too good, the man was like smoke.

And now I had the daunting task of trying to get him to come down to the cop shop with me to get re-bonded. Shit, Tank would have a fit if he knew where I was today, which was why I'd left Lula back at the office so she wouldn't blab to him, and sworn Connie, the office manager, to secrecy, telling her that if she let slip to Tank that I had this file, that I'd tell everyone about the time Joe Morelli gave her herpes in High School. Besides, I didn't want Black Hawk muscling in on my take down, as that meant I'd have to split the measly $2,000 cut from Vinnie with them. Tank may have saved my ass a number of times over the years, but there was still a price to pay for having his men ride to my rescue, and even with my 'you're pretty cool and we like you' discount, I knew that I'd be splitting the cheque at least four ways. 25 percent for me, 25 percent for Black Hawk and 25 percent each for the two guys he'd send over, and even less if he sent more of his crew to help out. Shit, in fact when Tank found out that I had this file he'd just take it off me, and I'd have to go and crawl for a cash advance from him to pay my rent. Yup my life royally sucked.

I studied the picture of Manoso; it was a few years old now, he looked around eighteen when it was taken. His soulless black eyes glared at the camera, his mouth was set in a sneer and he radiated serious bad attitude. I doubted that he'd changed much in the last twelve years; once a punk, always a punk. The bond paperwork gave the barrio just down and opposite me as his address, but so far, after two hours of staking the place out, I'd not even seen a glimpse of the guy. Plenty of heavily muscled guys had come and gone, but I really didn't want to go knock on the door until I was sure that he was in there. Not even I was that dumb.

After four hours, my ass had finally fallen asleep, and I needed a bathroom break. I turned the struggling engine over, and it coughed to life on the third attempt, damn fucking thing. Just as I was going to pull out, a black Porsche Turbo rolled down the street and slid to a stop outside the address in the file. What on earth was a car that expensive doing down here? Maybe it had just been boosted and was on its way to the chop shop. The driver's door swung open, and six foot of solid mocha latte muscle unfolded himself from the car, tossed his long hair over his shoulder and slid a pair of shades on. Shit! It was Manoso, and he was drop dead gorgeous. What the hell was I going to do now?

I decided on an emergency potty break so I could re-group and calm my raging hormones and nerves. I was back within ten minutes, and the Turbo was still parked at the curb. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans and had another go at drumming up the courage to go knock on the door. The horrid vision of me moving back into my parent's place was all it took, and I checked my gun over and slid it at the small of my back, stuffed my cuffs in my front jeans pocket, and put some pepper spray in the pocket of my hoodie. It was now or never, and I didn't want to have to tail this guy around town all day. I didn't want to do this, the stories I'd heard about this guy made me want to vomit, but I really needed the money.

I strode purposely up to the front door and banged on it loudly, trying my best to look more calm and composed than I felt. No one answered, so I thumped against the aging wood again with my fist. "Bond Enforcement, open the door," I yelled. Nice going Steph, just draw the attention of the whole block to you.

The locks tumbled and the door was yanked open by a tall Latino guy that could possibly be related to Ranger. "What the fuck do you want, bitch?" he spat. I heard the click of a gun being cocked, and glanced down as I felt something being pressed to my side. Great, now I had a Glock aimed at my gut. I really did not want to get shot today, or any other day for that matter.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to keep myself calm and hoped that my voice didn't waiver. "I'm from Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. Mr Manoso missed his court date and I need to escort him to the station so I can get him re-bonded."

The guy snorted. "You think that Ranger'll just go with you to the station? Man, you're one real dumb puta."

"Hey!" I snapped, beginning to fell just a little pissed, despite the gun trained on me.

Latino guy grabbed me by the arm and propelled me into the entry way, where I bounced off the chest of some huge black guy with bead tipped cornrows, and landed flat on my ass on the dirty floor. Certainly not the ideal position to be in. He reached down and jerked me to my feet by my ponytail, causing me to hiss in pain as fire shot across my scalp. Fuck the money, I really didn't need this abuse. I really, really should have given this file to Tank.

Should I go for the pepper spray in my pocket, or would that just get me a bullet in the back? The black guy tugged harder on my hair, forcing me up onto my tiptoes and I stifled a gasp. He leered at me and looked to the other guy. "Pretty little thang, ain't she? Reckon the boss will let us keep her?"

Oh no, I was not going down that road. I lashed out and managed to bury my knee firmly in his balls. He let out a low moan, let go of my hair and slid to the floor. Just as I was about to pull my pepper spray on the other guy, I was slammed roughly into the crumbling plaster work of the wall. My forehead and nose took the brunt of the impact, and I was left seeing stars, with blood trickling down my face and over my lips. Fuck, that hurt. The Latino pressed himself up against me from behind and ground his crotch against my ass, while forcing my arms up over my head. "You're carrying," he hissed in my ear.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound would come out.

He slammed me into the wall again and I felt my knees give way. He stopped me from falling and pressed me against the wall again, using his body weight to hold me up, and his hand went to the small of my back, extracting my Sig. "Anything else?"

I shook my head slightly and he laughed. "Don't belive you, chicka. Think I better strip search you."

Without warning he span me around, tossed me over his shoulder like a rag doll, and cold cocked me with the butt of his gun. The world swam for a few seconds and then my brain gave up and everything went black.

* * *

I came to slowly, pain radiating across my face from my broken nose. My head was throbbing from where I'd been hit too. Thankfully I was still fully clothed, but my hands had been cuffed behind my back, no doubt with my own cuffs and I was sat on a ratty armchair. I looked up slowly; every little move made my head throb even more, and I stamped down the urge to vomit. Great, add possible concision to the list of today's injuries.

Manoso was sitting opposite me. He was slouched back, long legs stretched out in front of him, and hands behind his head. He looked relaxed and certainly not like a thug. Sure he had the trademark skate shoes and baggy jeans, but his black t-shirt looked like it was silk and the shades holding his long hair out of his face looked expensive, and then there was the huge diamond stud in his ear.

He caught me looking at him and smirked slightly. "Nice of you to finally rejoin us, babe," he said with a strong Spanish accent.

My inner Burg girl finally found herself, and roared to life. "Un-cuff me, you bastard," I spat.

Ranger shrugged slightly, "As you wish."

He got to his feet with cat like grace and strode over to me, pushing me forward and swiftly removing the cuffs. I massaged my sore wrists and tried to get some circulation back into my fingers while he sat back down.

"So, Santos and Brown tell me that I need to go with you to get re-bonded, is that right?"

The accent was still there, but there was no sign of the ghetto speak that I was expecting. I was well and truly baffled by this guy. Eventually, I nodded in answer to his question.

Manoso studied me for a few beats. "Why didn't you give this file to Tank?" he asked finally.

"Excuse me?"

Ranger sighed. "Why are you even here? This file should have gone to Black Hawk, so care to explain why some little white chick is here and not them?"

How the hell was I supposed to answer that question?

"Did Lester knock all your brain cells loose?" he asked after I'd been silent for apparently too long for his liking.

"What? No! Look, I'm a bond enforcement agent, and I have a job to do, so here I am. I need to take you in to get you re-bonded." Maybe if I repeacted that enough times someone would listen to me.

"Oh Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, you are so out of your depth here, babe," he said with a laugh.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded.

He shrugged. "Everyone knows about the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. You've brought in enough of my organization over the years to bring yourself to my attention, but like I said, I'm still amazed that you came after me. Which makes me wonder if you are stupid or have some other reason; my money is on some other reason for you being here.

What the hell was I supposed to say? That I'm broke, about to get evicted and really need the money from your bond, so let's just jump in your Porsche, seeing as I'm now not fit to drive, and zip down to the station so I can collect my cash. I opted for the lie. "I'm just doing my job."

"I see."

He crossed the room again in three long strides, put his hands on the chair arms and leaned down to look me in the eye. "Care to elaborate?" he breathed.

My hormones went crazy, setting off a defcom five alert, and I tried to look anywhere but at him or in his eyes. He was beautiful, deadly and probably crazy.

"I know all about you, Stephanie plum," he whispered, his breath hot on my neck. "And I think you're here because you need the money. Is that correct?"

How the hell did he know that?

The slight smile was back again. "I have my ways. But tell me, is this about the money?"

I caved and nodded slightly, and a 100 watt smile lit up his face. "I see. Well maybe, Ms Plum, we can come to some arrangement. See, I'm in the process of making those charges against me go away, but I can't have you following me around and disrupting my business while I'm getting things sorted, so I'll make you a deal. I'll give you $5,000 if you stop staking out this place, or turn the file over to Black Hawk, so I can sort this mess out."

"And?" I pressed. What on earth could this guy want in return?

"And," Ranger smiled again, though this time he looked more like the cat that got the cream. "You agree to spend twelve hours with me, babe."

I put my hands on his chest and shoved him away from me. "No! No way in hell, Manoso," I yelled angrily.

"It's just twelve hours, Stephanie," he purred.

"I am not a whore," I snapped.

"I never said that you were. Your words, not mine. It's simply a business transaction. I get what I want, and you get what you need,and I guarantee that everyone will be happy."

"And what if I say no?"

Ranger's face went blank in an instant. "I'm a very busy man, so let me make this clear, I will let nothing get in the way of my business. Nothing. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"

I nodded and fought back the bile that was rising in my throat. What the hell was I going to do? Did I have any choice in this matter?

"So, do I need to reacquaint you with Lester and Bobby, who I understand would like to have a little talk to you about some incident concerning you knee and his balls, or are you going to take the money and my offer?"

I really didn't want to meet those two thugs again anytime soon, God only knows what they would do to me. "Can I just take the money?" I choked out.

"But what do I get out of that?" he asked huskily.

"Your freedom," I responded quietly.

"True, but I'll have that either way."

I was getting desperate here. "Just give me the $2,000 like I'd get from taking you in, and let me walk away. I won't come after you and I won't pass your file over to Tank. I promise."

Ranger leant back down again, invaiding my personal space. "$5,000 and twelve hours of your company, and I let you walk away now, or I pass you over to Santos and Brown and they can keep you as long as they like."

I closed my eyes and bit my lip. I was fucked. Totally, and utterly, whichever way you looked at it, and quite literally too. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only option I had was to negotiate. "$5,000 and twelve hours. I will go with you when and where you choose, but only on the condition that I am not hurt or drugged, or forced to do anything against my wishes."

Ranger held out his hand. "We have a deal, Ms Plum."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay, so I lied, this is not a two part fic. Angst and death warning in this chapter. And I also lied when I said that this would be posted when I got back from my business trip; instead, you get it a week early. Well, enjoy and I'll hopefully be bringing a full note book back home with me.

**The Dark Knight**

**Part Two of Two - Not!**

I stepped out of the bonds office, drew my coat tight around me in an attempt to shield myself from the frigid March wind, and made my way over to my rusting Honda Civic. The Nova had gone to the great scrap yard in the sky just before Christmas; the fire ball had been spectacular, and was seen ten blocks away. I dug my car keys out of my pocket book with a mitten covered hand, and glanced up as I stuck the key in the door lock. A black Porsche Turbo was idling at the curb directly over the road, and I knew in an instant who the car belonged to.

The driver's window was powered down; Ricardo Manoso flashed me his one hundred watt smile, slid a pair of shade on, and pulled back out into the traffic. The conceited bastard! I shot him the bird before getting in the car, having to slam the door four times just to get the lock to catch. Damn Manoso, damn him to hell!

Last November he'd bribed, or should that be blackmailed me; he paid me $5,000 to drop his FTA case, and in exchange he wanted twelve hours of my time. It wasn't like I'd had much choice in the matter; had I refused then I'd have become very well acquainted with two of his thugs. In the end, after some difficult negotiations, I'd agreed, and since then I'd been waiting for him to call in his twelve hours.

I'd pretty much expected him to turn up a couple of days later to collect on his deal, but he never did. Then I figured out that he'd probably show once the speeding charges were dropped, but he didn't do that either. Instead, the bastard just kept popping up in the strangest of places. He was always in his Porsche, and his SOP was to let the window down, make eye contact with me and then drive off. He was playing with me, trying his best to keep me constantly off balance, never knowing just where he'd show up next and if he'd demand his payment, and you know what? It was damn well working. I'd seen him at the bonds office, in my parking lot, outside my parents and while picking up skips. I had no idea how he knew where to find me, and it left me feeling very freaked out. To be honest, I just wanted him to collect on his deal so I could get him out of my life.

I glanced over the files I'd picked up from Connie; two easy ones, and one that needed a little more work. The simple, quick buck ones were Dougie and Mooner, and the not so easy one was Sasha St. Claire, a hooker down on Stark Street. I'd picked up Sasha a number of times, and I wasn't worried about having to chase her through alleys; she'd come along easily enough if I swung thought McDonald's on the way to the cop shop. What I was worried about was running into her pimp, Lester Santos. Lester was Ricardo Manoso's cousin, and also the delightful gentleman who had thrown me into a wall and given me a concussion back in November. I really didn't want to bump into him again, or Manoso for that matter.

These days I tended to stay clear of Stark, but I was running out of cash; the Honda wiping out all of my reserves, so I couldn't afford to be choosy with what cases I picked. The chances of actually seeing Santos were slim, but I'd become so flipping paranoid these last few months. Problem was that Manoso was really out there, he was watching me, and he was coming to get me.

It was official, I was a wimp. I'd put Sasha off until later and go pick Dougie and Mooner up first. Maybe if I was lucky then I could spend the day watching a Star Trek marathon and get high off second hand pot smoke. The row house on Slater had changed color since my last visit; it was now a lurid purple with a lime green door and window frames. Jeez, these two got odder every time I picked them up. I parked the Honda at the curb, jogged up the steps and knocked on the front door. No answer, and no sound from the television either. Strange, the guys were always at home. I knocked again, louder this time; maybe they'd smoked too much and had passed out.

"They're not here, dear."

I looked over to the next house; Mrs Kowalski was standing on her front stoop. "Do you know where they are?" I asked.

"They said something about a trip to Disney Land, but I'm not exactly sure when they'll be back. They asked me to water their tomato plants while they're away."

Right, tomato plants… I rolled my eyes, and thanked Mrs Kowalski. Great, now what? I only had Sasha's file left and I so did not want to go down to Stark Street. I had no food in my fridge and my rent was due by the end of the week; I couldn't afford to take a chance on the boys coming back before then. I was going to have to go bring Sasha in. I got back in the car and dug through my pocket book; I had enough loose change to get her some food on the way across town and that was it. Suck it up, Steph. Besides, it was still early and most of the low lifes would be in bed.

I headed to the other side of town, cruised Stark for a couple of blocks, keeping an eye out for a black Porsche Turbo and an aggressive Latino pimp. When I didn't see either, I parked outside Sasha's building, loaded for bear, and dashed up the stairs to her third floor apartment. The whole building really was a shit hole; cracked and water stained plaster work, trash of all varieties all over the floor and a foul smell that made my skin crawl. I banged on Sasha's door, calling out her name, but there was no answer. What was it with me today? I just didn't seem to have any luck.

"Come on Sasha, open the door," I cajoled. "We can stop off at McDonalds and I'll get you some breakfast."

Nothing, still no answer, and that was worrying; it was too early for her to be working. I stood up on tip toes and squinted through the peep hole, trying to see if she was just passed out on the couch. I couldn't be sure, but I thought that I saw someone on the sofa. I dug around in my bag and after a lot of hunting pulled out my lock picks. It was a handy skill to have; I had Tank to thank for that. The lock popped open relatively easily; I pulled my gun and slowly pushed the door open.

The smell of rotting meat made me gag, and I clamped my hand over my mouth and nose so I didn't lose my meager breakfast. Shit! Sasha was dead, very dead. I took a step closer and knew without a doubt that there was no point in looking for a pulse. Her skin was a sickly blue-green color, and if I didn't actually know her, I'd have struggled to recognize her; that meant that she'd been dead for around twenty four hours, no wonder she missed her court date.

She was slumped on her couch, but so far as I could tell, there was no obvious signs of how she died; no needles next to her or tell tale bullet wounds. But if my spidey sense was correct, I had a very strong feeling that she didn't die of natural causes. I crept slowly back across the room , relocked her door, wiped my prints from the handle and ran down the stairs like a bat out of hell. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the parking lot of McDonalds, shaking like a leaf. Think, Steph, think! Did I call the police and tell them I was in there and found her dead, or did I make an anonymous phone call? My money was on the anonymous call; I just didn't want to have to deal with this shit today.

I needed a phone booth that was away from cameras. There used to be one on the corner of Olden, but it got removed last year after it was involved in a collision with a speeding car – no it was nothing to do with me. I racked my brains and came up blank; there was no way on this earth that I wanted to get caught on some CCTV footage, showing me making the call to the TPD. There was only one other option, and it was going to leave me about a hundred bucks poorer, but I didn't think I had any choice. I could still collect the money on Sasha once the paperwork was done, but now some of that would be going to Tank.

I pulled my cell from my pocket and hit speed dial #1.

"Talk."

"Hey Tank, it's Steph. I need a favor."

Silence.

Would it kill him to say a damn word? "I went looking for Sasha this morning, and she's erm…"

"Dead?" he finished for me.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Just a guess. So you want me, in a roundabout sort of way to let the PD know about this then?"

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind."

"What's her bond?"

"$2000," I responded.

I could almost hear Tank doing the math in his head. "You owe me $50, I'll take it out of your next paycheck. There's a stack of searches that need doing; couple of days work at least if you want it."

What else could I do? I had to eat, to pay my rent. "Sure, I'll be over shortly."

I never got the chance to say thank you, as he'd hung up. I thunked my head against the steering wheel and let out a long sigh. My life sucked. I sat there with my head pressed on the wheel, contemplating spending the last of my cash on a Big Mac and coke when the passenger door popped open, and Manoso's henchman with the cornrows slid into the car. He leveled a Glock at my chest and smiled wickedly, flashing a couple of gold teeth.

"Not seen you in a while, bitch," he growled.

I thought about asking how his balls were, and if he could still have children, but the gun aimed at me made me think better of it. Instead I simply shrugged.

"Boss wants to talk to you. Drive, I'll tell you where."

I really don't think so. "Excuse me?" I asked tartly.

"Drive, or I might decide to see if the bullets in my gun will go all the way through you, out the other side and hit that parked car over there."

"Fine," I muttered as I turned the engine over. I'd never prayed so much in my whole life for one of my POS cars to die on me, but it started like a dream. Fuck.

"You know where Comstock is?"

I nodded.

"Well, what are you waiting for, puta?" he sneered.

The drive was made in silence. I kept glancing over at Brown, but he said nothing more, just kept his gun pointed at me. We drove down Comstock and pulled up outside a large tenement. Somehow, this one looked in a lot better condition than its neighbors. I got out the car and was then dragged up the steps and up to the second floor. Brown tugged me down the hallway and knocked on the third door.

"Entre," a voice commanded, and I knew without a doubt it was Manoso.

Brown pushed the door open, shoved me inside and slammed the it shut behind me. I stood there in silence, taking in my surroundings and keeping half an eye on Manoso. He was sat behind a large desk, his long hair was loose and he looked very tired, vulnerable even.

"Well?" I asked finally; the silence was so oppressive.

He leaned back in his chair. "I see you found out about Sasha."

I nodded, wondering if it was Manoso or one of his men that killed her, and if so, why he didn't talk to me this morning.

He snorted and sat forward. "You think I kill my own whores? I only found out about it an hour ago."

What could I say? Instead I shrugged.

He shook his head sadly. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear on the street."

Just who was this man, really? "Okay," I responded. "So maybe you could explain why I was escorted across town at gun point instead?"

He clasped his hands in front of him, elbows propped on his desk, and face deadly serious. "I need your help."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you to each and every one of you who reviewed chapter two. I never imagined that this fic would be so popular; my muse loves you all. I have taken the executive decision to call Ranger Ric, Ricardo or Manoso. A couple of you commented in C1 about him being called Ranger, and since then I've refrained from using that name. Somehow, as I continue to write this story, I just can't see him as Ranger. Maybe he needs a new street name.

**The Dark Knight **

**Chapter Three**

_He clasped his hands in front of him; elbows propped on his desk, and face deadly serious. "I need your help."_

Laughter bubbled out of my mouth and I paced the floor in front of his desk. "Do you really think that I look that stupid?" I asked finally.

Manoso looked over at me, his face still blank. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh come on," I shot back. "Why on earth would you need anything from me? You're not FTA, and I can't think of anything else I can do for you that you can't get from another source."

He shot me a small smile in reply. "Let me take you out to lunch, it's the least I can do for dragging you across town."

"At gun point," I reminded him. "And I'll pass on lunch, thank you."

"Turning down a free lunch, Stephanie? I'd have thought that you'd appreciate my gesture, seeing how you're broke as usual, and your FTA's are either dead or off riding Pirates of the Caribbean."

I stalked over to him and thumped my fist down on his desk. "Fine, I'll go to lunch with you if you count it towards the twelve hours I owe, and you tell me just how the hell you know where I am and what I'm doing all the damn time."

Manoso smirked. "A free lunch in return for two hours of your debt being repaid."

"Deal, but only if you'll explain just what the hell you want from me and why you hauled me across town against my will," I countered.

"Done, I'd have explained that anyway. Oh, but I insist we take my car."

Who the hell was I to complain? The guy drove a Porsche. "Okay, but I pick the place."

"I'm paying, so my choice. What do you say, babe?"

I relented. "Fine, let's get this over with."

He snorted. "Anyone would think that you despised my company."

I shot him the Burg glare and the bastard just laughed at me. Why was it that every time we had a conversation it had to involve tense negotiations, and I ended up caving on the deal? Ricardo fucking Manoso was really getting to me, and I was sick to death of it.

Manoso escorted me back down the stairs, and held the front door open for me; he'd have to do more than that to make me believe that he was a gentleman. Heck, he was anything but a gentleman, he was a thug. He beeped the locks on his Porsche, held the passenger side door open for me, closing it after I was seated in the plush leather interior, and then got in the driver's side. "Seatbelt," he prompted. "I'd hate to see that pretty face of yours get messed up."

Despite the innocent sounding nature of his words, I had to wonder if that was some sort of veiled threat. Would he actually harm me if I refused to do what he wanted? He'd intimidated me before with all sorts of dire nastiness, but would he actually deliver on his threats? I decided that I didn't want to find out, nor push him, and I dutifully fastened my seatbelt. "Where are we going?" I asked.

He slid on his signature pair of black shades and turned the engine over. "Lunch."

Argh! The man was so infuriating. "Yes, I grasp that, but where are we going to eat lunch?"

"Somewhere that serves food," was his sarcastic response.

"Why can't you just tell me where we are going?" I snapped.

Manoso stared at me over the top of his shades. "Embarrassed to be seen out in public with me, chica?"

Was I? Well, I certainly didn't want my mother to know about my choice of lunch companion, or Tank for that matter. I chose a tactful reply. "Not at all, I'm more concerned for your reputation. I'm sure that it wouldn't do your street cred much good to be seen out in public with one of the local bounty hunters."

He laughed; it was a rich, melodious sound that sent shivers down my spine. "Cute answer, babe, but don't worry, where we're going, no one will care about your reputation or what you do for a living, just that you, or myself in this case, can pay the bill."

* * *

We seemed to have driven for miles before we eventually stopped to eat. I'd never heard of the restaurant, but then again, seeing as I could never afford to eat here in a million years, I wasn't surprised. The valet took care of the car and Manoso escorted me inside, his hand resting lightly at the small of my back. "You're carrying," he whispered as we passed through the doorway.

"And you aren't?" I shot back quietly.

He laughed, and for the second time today my hormones went wild. "Touché, babe."

The maitre de didn't do much to help my raging hormones either; he seated us at a secluded table in the far corner. Once he'd done the chair thang and given us the menus, he left the pair of us alone. I took in the opulent surroundings and looked over at Ricardo. He seemed slightly out of place in his black tight leather pants and silk t-shirt, in fact he looked like a rock star, and he screamed money. Me, on the other hand, well I looked like I'd dressed out of the contents of a thrift store. Actually, now that I come to think of it, I had. I saw no point in buying new clothes when I spent so much time rolling around in garbage and scaling walls and fences. I could easily go through a pair of jeans and a couple of t-shirts a week if the gods of pesky FTA's were poking fun at me again. Not to mention the sheer number of sneakers I lost or ruined. My job was hell on my wardrobe and I couldn't recall the last time I bought nice clothes; not that there was much point, as I never went out anyway.

Damn, this was turning into a total pity party. I was thirty years old, flat broke, with no social life and no love life. I'd had a couple of dalliances with Trenton cop Joe Morelli since his reappearance in my life, but nothing had ever jelled; we'd been nothing more than fuck buddies, and at the end of the day that magic spark just hadn't been there.

"Deep thoughts?"

Manoso jarred me from my morose musings and I shrugged.

He cocked his head to one side in response and studied me for a few beats. "You know, I don't know how you survive on so little money. Have you not considered a career change?"

I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists under the linen table cloth. How dare he? Everyone else expected me to be the good Burg girl, but for some reason, I'd expected him to understand my unorthodox career choice, seeing as he had one himself. "I like my job," I ground out after counting to ten a couple of times in my head.

"I never suggested that you don't enjoy what you do; it's just that there does not seem to be a lot of money in it."

"I get by," I said in defense.

"Barely. Won't Tank give you a full time job?"

"I don't want a full time job with Black Hawk, thank you. I'd be tied to a desk or babysat, so I do what I do because it's what I want to do. I work on my terms and I'll never go back to an office; been there, done that."

Manoso smiled. "I admire your tenacity, Stephanie. Which succinctly brings me around to why I wanted to see you today; I need your help."

I shot him an eyeroll. "Yeah, I got that already."

He sighed. You think I was getting to him yet?

"Okay, so you know about Sasha, right?"

"If you mean that she's dead, then yes."

The waiter chose that second to appear, Manoso rattled off a torrent of Spanish, and the guy hurried away again.

"You don't mind me ordering for you, do you babe? Their chicken is simply to die for, and they have a wonderful Pinot Grigo that compliments it so well."

What the fuck? "Okay, time out, just who the hell are you?" I demanded.

Manoso looked confused. "Excuse me?"

"You, this…" I waved my hand towards him, gesturing at his clothes. "Are you a street thug or a gentleman?"

"What do you think I am?" he questioned.

I shook my head. "I have no idea. You've blackmailed me, you are stalking me, and your minions threaten me with guns, yet you sit here in this fancy place, totally at ease, almost like you own the place and order posh food and wine like it's something you do every day. To cap it off, you don't sound like the average punk; you are articulate and intelligent, so I just don't know that to expect from you at all, and it's damn confusing."

He smiled, flashing me his perfect white teeth. "I am who I am, no more and no less."

I shook my head and sighed; guess I'd never get a straight answer out of him on that subject. "Fine, so back to Sasha."

"She's not the first of my girls to turn up dead in recent weeks, in fact, she's the third."

I'd not heard about the other deaths, but people died on Stark Street every day. "Okay, but I don't understand how this concerns me; only Sasha was my FTA."

Manoso nodded. "Yes, but as you can well imagine, the Trenton police are not doing a lot of investigating into these deaths. So far they have not connected the three women, and I'm not about to stand up and enlighten them, if you get my drift."

Oh, I had a very bad feeling about this. Suddenly everything had fallen into place, and if I was right, then things were about to get very messy and complicated. "You want me to look into the deaths, don't you?"

"Correct."

Oh jeez, I'm so screwed. Maybe I could ask him to just shoot me now. "Why me?"

The waiter returned with the wine, and poured Manoso a taste. He declared it drinkable with the barest of nods, and the young guy scurried away again. "Wine?"

"Yes, and you're avoiding my question, Ricardo," I snapped.

"Why you? Well, I know all about you bringing Morelli in and proving him innocent, and your innate ability to stumble across clues and solve even the most baffling of mysteries, so who else would I ask?"

Anyone but me I mentally shrieked. "Hire a P.I."

He snorted. "I want you to work on this, I have a strong feeling that you can solve this little problem for me, and I'd like to know just who is killing my women on my patch."

"So what's more important to you, the dead girls, or the fact that someone is pissing on your territory?" I demanded waspishly.

"Do you really think so little of me? No, don't answer that babe, you'd only hurt my feelings," he spat.

His eyes had gone dark and he was really angry, but I was unperturbed. "You deal in drugs, guns, money and women, what am I supposed to think, that underneath that tough exterior you're a decent guy who gives a damn? So far I'm inclined to believe that you're more interested in this person hitting on your streets, than the poor girls that died. You ever heard of rehab, or support for women to help them get off the game and find a decent job? Their blood is on your hands, Manoso. You know what, just take me home; I don't think I can eat a meal that was paid for by the profits of exploiting women. I've taken enough dirty money off you to last me a life time already."

I put my shaking hands on the table top and made to stand up, when he reached out and grabbed me by the wrist. "Sit!"

I tried to tug my hand free, but his grip was like iron. "I am not a damn dog," I yelled. The other diners in the restaurant all turned around and glared or gaped at us.

"PMS," Manoso offered to the room at large with an apologetic look on this face. The men rolled their eyes and the women looked sympathetic.

Before, I was mad, now I was raging mad. I snatched my hand free, tossed my wine in his face, marched straight out of the building and made a bee line for the nearest bus stop. Fuck him, and his fucking deal! I was washing my hands of that bastard. Tomorrow I was going to the P.D to inform them of his connection to the dead women. This afternoon? I had a date with a stack of searches for Black Hawk. And if I was really lucky, I could work until ten pm, mooch lunch and dinner from the break room, and still come out with cash in my pocket. It wouldn't be the first time that Tank had fronted me my wages out of the petty cash tin.

* * *

I cracked open a sleep encrusted eyelid and glanced at my alarm clock. It was nearly noon; I'd managed to sleep the morning away. Then again, I hadn't got back from Black Hawk until nearly midnight. I'd forgotten that my car was still on Comstock and had to wait until one of the guys was free so I could get a ride home. Not that I told them where it was, I'd lied and said that it had broken down – not uncommon for one of my POS vehicles. The day was looking shit already; Connie would have called me if any new files had come in, Sasha was probably in the local morgue by now and the paperwork for me to collect my fee would take all afternoon, and Blunt Man and Chronic, sorry, Dougie and Mooner were more than likely still living it up in Florida. And not to mention that I had no food in my fridge and I'd have to walk to the store to get some groceries. At least I still had enough coffee left for a brew or two.

I hauled myself out of bed, pulled on my ratty robe and padded barefoot into the kitchen. What the hell? There was fresh coffee in the pot. I grabbed my gun out of my cookie jar and slipped the safety off. Someone had been in my apartment; hell, they could still be in my apartment. I did a quick sweep and came up empty on the bad guy front. The apartment door was locked and the security chain was still in place. This was getting weird. And then I spotted something on my coffee table; a pile of files and my car keys. The bastard, I couldn't believe that Manoso had broken in here and left me copies of the police reports on the dead hookers.

I needed coffee and donuts to deal with this. Could I trust his coffee, or would he have done something nasty to it? I opened my fridge to check for some milk, only to find it fully stocked, complete with a box from the Tasty Pastry. There was a note taped to the top of the box.

_Sorry about yesterday. Please accept a couple of peace offerings from me to make up for my behavior. I have left you the files to read through – I would still like your input on this matter, and I would also like to explain a few things to you. Dinner, 8PM, tonight? _

_Ric _

_P.S if you need to contact me, then call Shorty's Bar and leave a message with him._

I relented and poured myself a coffee to go with my Boston Cream and sat down on the sofa. I toyed with the idea of looking over the files, but finally figured that it could wait. I picked my keys up with the Wonder Woman key fob and frowned; something wasn't right. I studied the car keys; they did not belong to the Civic. What the hell was Manoso playing at? I flung my living room window open and aimed the car alarm remote at the car park; the lights on a black Ford F-450 flashed. Definitely not my Honda. I pressed the alarm button again just to be sure, yup the keys belonged to that truck.

I tossed them back on the coffee table along with my half eaten donut. I felt sick; I did not accept cars from thugs with illegal earnings. Manoso was trying to buy me, and it wasn't going to work. Fuck him, he was not going to push me around or bribe me anymore with dirty money. He could stick his truck, and his dinner invitation too, for that matter, up his ass.

I pulled out the phone directory and found the number for Shorty's Bar. A guy picked up and I enquired if Stephanie Plum could leave a message for Ricardo Manoso.

"He said you'd call," the guy laughed.

"Yeah? Well you can tell him to go fuck himself!" I stated "Also tell that bastard that I want my car back."

I hung up and contemplated tossing the contents of my fridge in the trash. I was broke, but was I that broke? Shit, it was a tough call. I glanced back to the files and wondered about throwing them out too. Crap, they were calling to me, begging me to read them. I just couldn't help myself; it was like I was stuck in some sort of tractor beam. I reached out slowly, picked them up, and flipped the top one open.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Four**

I'd relented and eaten the whole box of Boston Creams; guess Manoso could buy me with donuts after all. I still wasn't going to accept that truck though. The files of the three dead hookers lay scattered across the coffee table in front of me, along with half a cup of cold coffee and a couple of pages of scribbled notes. Something was wrong, and I just couldn't put my finger on it; there was something about how they all died that was setting off my spidey sense. Every death was executed in a professional manner, almost too professional; these women were certainly not the victims of a random attack. Manoso was right; someone was picking off his girls.

It turned out that Sasha had died from a stab wound; single blow straight to the heart from behind. It took a lot of skill to stab someone as precisely as that; I doubted that some random gang banger would be that proficient. Kelly Morris had been the first victim, and she'd died from an OD. Problem was that there were no noticeable track marks; Manoso had scribbled in her file that to the best of his knowledge, she wasn't a user. The second girl was Denise Sutherland, and she'd been strangled. There had been no obvious ligature left at the scene, and the coroner had commented that the marks looked similar to bruising caused by plasti–cuffs, those disposable things that riot police used.

So we had no witnesses, no prints or fibers, and three very dead women, who, from what I could tell, had been killed by a professional. The word _Killer?_ headed a sheet of paper. So far, the only things I had written beneath that heading were Rival Gangs and The Mob. I doubted that it was a rival gang, the job was too professionally done; which left the mob, but why they'd be interested in Manoso's patch, when it was nowhere near any of their own turf, baffled me. Half of the problem with this case was trying to find out the motive behind the deaths. Maybe if I could figure that out, then I'd be a step closer to working out who the killer was.

It had to be about territory, there was no other reason to bump off the prostitutes; unless it really was just some random nut job on a killing spree. Crap, there was nothing for it, I was going to have to start staking out Stark Street to see if I could spot anything suspicious. It was either that or go under cover as a whore, and that was a last resort. I knew that I couldn't count on Ricardo to keep me safe, and there was no way I was getting Tank and the guys involved in this fuck up. The less Tank knew about my association with Ric Manoso the better. If he had the slightest inkling of what I was up to, he'd have me handcuffed to my shower rod faster than I could consume a Tastykake, and he wouldn't be riding to my rescue like the last time that happened.

While Joe Morelli was FTA, I'd stolen his distributer cap. Needs must, and I really needed the use of this car, as mine had been repossessed. The bastard had handcuffed me naked to my shower rod when I wouldn't give up the location of said distributor cap, and I'd had to call Tank to get me out of my predicament. It would have been cheaper to call a locksmith, and easier to call the fire department, despite the embarrassment factor that would have occurred; I'd been billed $500 by Black Hawk for an emergency call out and had two silent, nameless guys in black spring me free within fifteen minutes. I'd later found out that they were called Hal and Manny, and the pair of them had never let me live it down; every time I worked at Black Hawk one of them would bring it up. If it wasn't for the money, I'd have quit that job months ago. Bastards.

The only problem with doing a stakeout was that I needed some more information, and that meant talking to Manoso again. I needed to know who could be trying to muscle in on his territory, or if there was anyone that he wouldn't expect to see picking up his women. Now that I came to think about it, it would be a heck of a lot easier if he did this himself; he'd have a better idea of who was supposed to be sniffing around his hookers. See, I've got him a couple of starting points, maybe he'd just take that intel and go and figure the rest of it out for himself. No, I didn't think so.

Should I call Shorty's again? I didn't want Manoso thinking that I was in a rush to speak to him; I'd never hear the end of it. Besides, I was still pissed at him for breaking in and dumping these files here. How the hell did he know that I just wouldn't be able to resist looking at the paperwork? I was going to see this whole mess through to the bitter end; I knew that, and I had a strong feeling that he knew that too. It also made me wonder just what else he knew about me. Aside from seeming to know my location twenty four hours a day, keeping up to date on my list of FTA's and the state of my bank account, was he snooping through my windows with a long lens or reading my mail? Just how far was he going to get information on me? And just what did he actually know about me?

I suspected that I could run off to Alaska, and the bastard would still be able to find me. How? Think Steph, think! I snatched my shoulder bag off the counter and tipped out the contents. He must have planted a tracker on me after our first meeting. What did I have with me that day that he could have gotten a hold of? Shit, my cell! I prized the battery compartment open and dropped the phone on the floor in shock. There, tucked inside the casing next to the sim card as a small chip; no doubt a tracking devise. I guess it finally explained how he was keeping tabs on me; the bastard must have put it in there when I was out cold after Santos had clouted me around the head.

I counted to ten to calm my nerves and raging temper, and when that didn't work, I counted to one hundred. In the end I had to resort to a bottle of Bud that had been so kindly left in my fridge. Despite being the Beer Fairy, that bastard was still going to pay for this. I levered the chip loose, stuffed it in an envelope and just out of spite scribbled a fictional address in Alaska on it, slapped a stamp on it and quickly hustled downstairs to the mailbox, still in my bathrobe. Well, it should certainly keep the asshole guessing for a few days. Maybe I should just pull a disappearing act to really confuse him.

The tracker was a start, at least now I would be able to move around without him second guessing my location all the time. I still wanted to know how he found out all the other stuff he knew, but that would have to wait. I had a stakeout to plan, and in all honesty, I didn't want to have to talk to Manoso. Something told me that he was a control freak, and I'd end up stuck with either him or one of his goons in my car if I let on what I was planning.

But I didn't have a car, just that stick out like a sore thumb damn truck. I needed another POS car so I could blend in on Stark, but didn't have the money to buy one. Then again, I wonder if that truck had a title. If it did, I could sell it, get a new car with the cash and then donate the rest to the local women's shelter. Perfect!

Hell, even if the damn thing had no papers, I still knew someone who would take it off my hands for cash. In fact, good ol' Rufus would probably be able to sell me a new set of wheels that had papers; albeit with slightly damp ink. Looks like I was going car shopping on Stark.

* * *

Ten minutes later I was dressed and admiring the black truck that had been parked in my lot. Manoso was going to have a cow when he found out that I'd sold it, but I didn't give a damn. Speaking of Manoso, I wonder if he'd fitted a tracker on this baby. Guess there was nothing for it, I was going to have to have a look at the chassis. I dumped my bag in the driver's seat and unceremoniously wiggled under the truck, which thankfully had a jacked up suspension. After a lot of swearing and the frequent removal of small stones from under my shoulder blades, I hit pay dirt, finding a small devise tucked into the back wheel arch. It had been a clever job, and I doubted I'd have found it if I hadn't have been so paranoid in the first place. It was connected to the metal by a large sticky pad, so I carefully peeled it off and stuck it to the underside of Mrs. Bestler's behemoth of a Buick. Ha! Let them figure that one out; Score two for the Burg girl.

Mission accomplished, I slid into the cab and admired the plush leather upholstery and that new car smell I so rarely got to experience. Mostly my POS mobiles stank of old cigarettes and dubious odors best left uninvestigated, so this was a bit of a thrill for me. Not that I was going to experience it for long, mind you, as there was no way I was going to keep this truck; my conscience just would not let me. With that in mind I turned the engine over and motored off in the direction of Rufus' joint on Stark.

He was sat on his front stoop with a couple of his crew when I pulled up in front of his place, and the three of them looked hungrily at the truck as I stopped at the curb.

I slid from the cab and leant against the hood for effect. "How's it goin', Rufus?

"The day brightened somewhat when you turned up, doll," he grinned, flashing a couple of gold teeth.

I smiled back. "So care to help me out and take this baby off my hands?"

He whistled appreciatively as he circled the truck. "Nice wheels, babe. You sure you want to sell it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, 'fraid so; I need something for work that's a little less, how can I put it? Obvious."

"Ahh, I catch your drift, girl. Got another Ford down the lock up that's more your thang. I'll make you a deal, I'll take the F-450 off your hands, let you have the Focus and give you say… $10,000 cash. Sound good to you?"

$10,000? Was he joking? That truck was listed at around $40,000. I gave him the Burg glare. "$30,000."

"$15,000," he countered.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll see you around, Rufus,"

He took the bait. "Wait, hang on, babe! $22,500. That's my best offer and I'm cutting my own throat here."

Now that was more like it; I didn't really care about the money, but I wasn't going to let him rip me off. I spat in my palm and held my hand out. "Deal."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thanks for all your fabulous reviews, and thanks also those of you out there who have dropped me a line recently to find out about the status of this fic - Guess you all inspired me to get writing. You never know that might work next time too.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Five**

It was official, I was now Ms. Totally and Utterly Insane. I was riding around town in a slightly hot car with no insurance, had posted one of Manoso's trackers to Alaska, and stuck the other on Mrs. Bestler's Buick. To top it all off I was also about to spend the foreseeable future staking out Stark Street looking for a cold blooded killer. I hoped that my mother never found out about any of this; she'd be ironing the toilet paper and drinking scotch like she was trying to quench her thirst after a marathon. I could kiss desserts goodbye, that was for sure. Oh hell, and then there was my grandmother. Well, at least it was obvious who I got my craziness from. I just had to pray that she didn't catch wind of what I was up to or she'd be riding shotgun with me. Then again, she could be a very good Ric Manoso repelling devise; all hot men feared my granny, as she has a serious problem of wandering hands. Yeah, I could just see Grandma Mazur pinching Manoso's ass.

And then there was the small issue of Manoso himself. He was going to hit the roof and my ass would be grass once he worked out what I was up to, but I didn't want to have to deal with him. I wanted to work this case on my own terms, and then hand all the details over to him so he could do whatever he deemed necessary to clear up the problem, and then I was going to demand that he saw that the twelve hours I owed him was paid in full.

But it didn't end there, I also had to worry about Tank; if he found out what I was up to I really would end up in Alaska, and I didn't have the wardrobe to deal with that right now. There was only one thing for it; to be able to get on with job in peace and quiet, I needed to leave my apartment and hide out somewhere else. But fear not, I was Wonder Woman, and I had a plan.

First off I needed to pack up all the food in my fridge and any clothes and weapons I'd need over the next couple of weeks, and then I was going to charm Dougie and Mooner's spare key off Mrs. Kowalski, get a copy made and then squat at the bat cave; the home of the caped crusaders, or whoever they were pretending to be this month. It was a good plan and Mrs. Kowalski would be none the wiser to my presence if I was careful.

The best laid plans were always the simple ones, and with me in hiding, I would be able to get out to Stark on an evening with relative ease. It also seemed that the $2500 Tank forced me to shell out on the Spotting and Ditching tails course was about to come in handy too. I'd spent so long thinking like a criminal in order to catch my skips, that it now appeared that I could use their tactics to my own advantage when I didn't want to be found.

I boxed up my groceries, stuffed a couple of week's worth of clothes in a hold all, and then stashed my gun, back up gun, spare clips, knives, stun gun and handcuffs in my shoulder bag. I was all set; I wouldn't have to take Rex with me was my faithful companion had met his untimely demise a couple of months back at the claws of Mr. Atkinson's tabby cat. It had been tough at first, but I was coping with his loss rather well now.

If I was careful then I could shift this lot in one trip to the car, and then get the hell out of dodge before Ric found out his trackers were doing very strange things. It was only a matter of time before he twigged, and the sooner I was gone the better.

* * *

Old Mrs. Kowalski had been a star, and had very agreeably lent me the spare key so I could get my Star Trek box set back that I'd apparently loaned to the guys. I'd quickly got a copy of the key made, returned the original and then hot footed it across town to the bonds office, parking a block away and letting myself in through the back door.

Things seemed quiet on the Western Front, so I peered cautiously around the corner; Connie was sat at her desk, and Lula was nowhere in sight. Perfect.

I cleared my throat loudly, and Connie span around, almost knocking over her collection of nail polish bottles that cluttered up the desk. She put her hand on her heart and glared. "Jesus Stephanie, what the hell are you doing skulking about?"

I leant against the bank of filing cabinets behind her desk, and pondered just what I was and wasn't going to tell her. "I need to disappear for a while."

"Another nut case after you?" she asked in surprise.

I shook my head. "Not really, but I need to do some P.I work for someone, and I need to keep a very low profile; the less I tell you, the safer you are. I'll still need to collect my files, but I don't want to come to the office. Can you text me if I get any new cases?"

She nodded, the gears in her head turning at warp speed as she tried to figure out just what was really going on. "And I'll meet you at the bench by the fountain in the park to hand them over, right?" she joked.

"That's actually not a bad idea," I commented. "Maybe a different time and place every day."

Her eyes went wide. "Okay, just what the heck are you involved in, girl? This sounds really nasty."

"It's not that nasty, yet – I just need to operate below the radar until I've finished this investigative job. So can you help me out, or does Vinnie need to find himself another bounty hunter for a few weeks?"

"Don't you dare do that to me," she shrieked. "Okay, I'll help you out with your files, but on one condition, you tell me who you're working for."

Could I tell her without it getting around the 'Burg in five seconds? I'd known Connie since school and she was a good friend, but when it came to gossiping, Connie was one of the best. I honestly wasn't sure that she could keep that information to herself, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Crap. "Con, look I don't want anything bad to happen to you, so believe me when I tell you that you really don't need to know what's going on. If anyone and I mean anyone, even Tank comes looking for me, you haven't seen me, right?"

She swallowed audibly. "You're serious aren't you? This is some nasty shit that you're wrapped up in."

I nodded. "It has the potential to become very nasty, yes. I don't want anyone to be able to trace my cell either, so I'll just turn it on at 10am every morning for a couple of minutes so any texts I have time to show up. We'll arrange the next drop off point at every meeting, and if I don't show up within fifteen minutes, leave and come back the next day. If I don't show then, call the cops and report me missing, okay?"

Connie had gone very pale under her foundation. "You've got me really worried here; I wish there was more I could do to help you. Still, I never knew that you were so good at all that sneaky shit."

"Tank trained me well, may as well make some use of those courses I've had to go one over the years. Guess I'm finally getting my money's worth," I replied a little bitterly. Everything Tank and his men had taught me was about to become very useful, but his training had not come cheap. He'd once told me that to be good at this job and stay alive, you had to be well trained, and so I had been, but at a very steep price. Some months I'd had to spend an extra twenty hours a week shuffling papers at Black Hawk just to clear my debts to him.

"You take care hon, you hear me?" she replied quietly.

"Sure, I'll do my best. You have any new files for me?"

Connie shook her head.

"Okay text me if anything comes in, and I'll check my cell at ten tomorrow morning. I'll meet you at the deli on the corner of Third and Main at 1.30pm the day I pick the text up. Got that?"

"I think so. So if I get any new files today or first thing tomorrow, I send you a text, and then I meet you at the deli. If nothing comes in until the following morning, I'd see you the day after tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, that's it. Oh, and when you text me, send something none descript like 'how are you?' or 'how was dinner?' That way if anyone checks up on your cell, you should still be in the clear. If you need to stop this if someone is digging and you think that you are in danger by meeting me, text 'bought new shoes', and if you can't make a meet, text 'got a date', and I'll see you the following day that the arranged location," I explained. You could never be too careful with cell phones; you never knew just who was listening in or checking your account.

"You been reading one too many spy novels?" she teased.

"No, just Sun Tzu's The Art of War."

"You are kidding me, aren't you, Steph?"

I just smiled. "See you around, Connie." And with that I slipped back out into the alley and cautiously navigated the back streets and access roads until I returned to my car.

I still needed to drop off a large sum of money at the women's shelter, but that would have to wait until this fiasco was cleared up. Plus I could do with some money in reserve for expenses for this case. I wasn't about to spend Manoso's cash on myself for selfish reasons, but I would have expenses while tracking down the killer for him. The shelter could have what was left at the end; I could live with that. I could quite easily use his dirty money to find a murderer, I just couldn't bring myself to do my shopping or buy new shoes with it.

One thing I could also do with was a way to keep tabs on Manoso. It would help to know where he was so I could avoid him, or not accidentally bump into him. I had a strong feeling that he'd be at my place tonight at eight pm to pick me up for dinner. Even though I'd told him to stick it, I doubted that his ego would let it drop that easily. Only problem was that the only place I could think of to get a hold of that kind of hardware was Black Hawk.

I had clearance for the 5th floor control room, the 3rd floor gym and the basement gun range, but no access to the equipment stores. It wasn't like I could claim that my last one had got blown up when my car had exploded, as I'd never had a tracker before. I was going to have to come up with a very good lie to charm Tank into parting with a tracking devise and reader unit for it first and foremost, and then worry about having to pay for it. Screw that, Manoso could pay for it; it was all in aid of the greater good and all that jazz.

Okay, so I've got the cash, now I just need a cunning plan; maybe I should re-read The Art of War. I got back in the Focus and turned the engine over. It caught first time; seemed that Rufus had sold me a reasonable car for a change. The day was looking up a little.

I headed over to the Black Hawk building, motored into the underground parking garage, and waved cheerily at the security cameras. Now I just had to get the gear and get out again fast. Thankfully, Tank shouldn't be aware of my new job yet, so I didn't have to worry about Alaska right now, and if my plan of keeping a low profile worked, then he wouldn't find out at all.

I jogged up the stairs, breezed through the comm. room and headed straight for Tank's office at the far end of the floor.

Half way down the corridor I was met by Hal. "If you're looking for the boss, then I'm afraid that he's not here; got a meeting off site."

Crap, what the hell was I going to do now? Think, damn it!

Hal smiled politely while eyeing my cleavage. Ahh, it looks like I have a plan.

"Oh, thanks for that Hal. I'm in a bit of a fix actually; do you think you could help me out?" I purred as I batted my eyelashes at him. Least I had the advantage of him seeing me naked once. He hadn't run screaming so this crazy plan might actually work.

"Well, what sort of help do you need?" he leered.

I stepped closer, licked my lips and accidentally grazed his arm with my breasts. "Well, I need some supplies from the equipment store downstairs."

Hal smiled wickedly and backed me up against the wall. "Just what sort of thing are you looking for, honey?"

I put a hand on his hip and stood up on tip toes so my lips were almost level with his mouth. "I lost my hand cuffs; you think you can assist me? I'll pay for it later, I promise. I'm just a little short of cash right now..."

"Sure, whatever you need doll,. I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement," he whispered in my ear as he leant against me and tried to grope my ass.

Men were such idiots at times. "I knew I could count on you, Hal," I giggled as I put my hand on his arm and squeezed playfully. "Oh my, have you been working out more? You're muscles are so big and hard…"

Hal almost choked, and pulled me swiftly away from the wall. "Let's get this stuff you need from the store room Steph, and then we can discuss payment options."

I was so evil, and also about to be on both Hal and Tank's shit list for the stunt I was about to pull, but it was the only thing I could think of doing. I trotted down to the store room on the second floor and waited for Hal to open the lock. He slid a keycard into the slot, pushed the door open and flipped the light on. I followed him into the store, shoved the door shut behind us, and then stuck my stun gun on his ass. Hal dropped like a ton of bricks and I was pretty sure that the entire control room must have heard the crash. I had to move quickly before anyone came to investigate. Thankfully everything was labeled in here, so I grabbed the GPS unit and the tracker along with a couple of other things that I thought might come in handy. Then I quickly mussed up my hair, shoved my top off one shoulder, put on my best just been kissed look, and slunk back out into the corridor.

There was no one there, but that didn't mean that someone was watching. I didn't want to raise suspicion now, so walked slowly and calmly back to my car, and drove out at a relatively sedate speed. It wasn't until I was clear of the building's external cameras that I put my foot to the floor and burned rubber in the direction of my apartment. Now all I had to do was hide until Manoso came a calling, plant the tracker on his car and everything was hunky dory, A okay and all that crap. Looks like I was sitting in those damn bushes in the parking lot again. Here's hoping that it doesn't end in being handcuffed to a shower rod like the last time I went skulking in the undergrowth. Ha! Maybe I could steal the distributor cap to his Porsche while I was at it.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **I've always wanted to meet Ranger in a fanfic context and get my claws into Lester too, so I'm sure that you'll forgive me for my little wander into the land of Mary Sue. Don't worry; it's just a bit of fun. If you're wondering just what the hell I'm going on about, all I can say is that it concerns the chick with the Land Rover.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Six**

Whose dumb ass idea was it to skulk in the bushes in my parking lot for nearly an hour to see if Manoso showed up so I could tag his Porsche? Oh shit, that would be have been mine. It was not one of my better plans; I was cold, wet and I needed to pee. A little bit more forward planning could have saved me a lot of discomfort here. Well, it was nearly eight, and I doubted that he'd be too late, so I only had about another twenty minutes before I could call it quits at around quarter past.

The sound of a high performance engine cut through the night, and I scooted back up against the wall in my hiding place. I was pretty damn sure that I could not be seen from the lot, but I wasn't about to chance it. Getting caught by Manoso was not high on my list of priorities tonight. The bushes gave good coverage, but still provided me with an almost perfect view of the parking lot.

A black Porsche angled into a spot by the front door. The engine was cut, Ric slid out of the car in his trademark black silk shirt and tight leathers, shades atop his head to keep his long hair out of his eyes, and he remoted the car locked as he stalked towards the entrance of my apartment building.

I suspected that after getting no answer, he'd pick the locks and check the place out, so I had a couple of minutes tops to get this done. After he vanished through the lobby doors I counted to twenty, as I figured that was enough time for him to get up stairs and start hammering on my front door. I crawled from the bushes on rubber like legs that had been in one position for too long and wobbled over to his Porsche. After a quick glance around to make sure that no one was watching, I bent down and fixed the tracker to the underside of the car, just in front of the back bumper. He wouldn't find it unless he went looking for it.

The sound of a vehicle approaching had me scurrying back towards the bushes at high speed, and I'd only just concealed myself again in the shrubbery when a set of high beam spots lit up the parking lot, and a large black F-450 swung into view. I only knew one person who drove a truck like that: Tank. There was only one word, well two actually that could adequately describe this current situation: cluster fuck. I should have known that Hal would be on the war path once he came around from being stunned and that he'd be out for revenge; it looked like he'd sent the boss around to have a little chat with me. Crap, instead of having to dodge Tank in case he found out that I was working for Manoso, I'd now have to avoid all of Black Hawk. Nice going Steph, you really thought that one through, didn't you?

It was also a damn good thing that I wasn't staying in my apartment tonight; guess I'd not even considered what the fallout might be by stealing Black Hawk property and stunning the deputy manager in the supplies closet. Somehow I figured that Tank wouldn't see that I'd actually done him a favor. I mean, if I was him and one of my best men had been taken out by a woman because she charmed him into a store room, I'd be pretty grateful for someone bringing that serious judgment lapse to my attention. The Black Hawk guys obviously needed to be more aware of their surroundings.

Even with me out of sight, things were still about to get very ugly; while I'd never seen Manoso and Tank in the same vicinity as each other, I was well acquainted with Tank's opinion of Ric. I seriously doubted that they were the best of buddies. Maybe I should call for an ambulance now to save time, as I had a pretty strong feeling that someone might get shot here.

The truck stopped a couple of spaces down from the Porsche, and Tank and Hal exited the cab. Holy shit, this was going to be carnage. The two men in black made it as far as the Porsche, before Tank stopped dead and stared down at the number plate. He whipped out his cell and angrily punched a couple of buttons.

"Yo, need you to run a plate. Black Porsche Turbo, NJ 4762."

"I thought so. Cheers Zero."

Hal shifted uncomfortably. "It his?"

Tank nodded. "Yeah, but what that bastard Manoso is doing here, I have no idea."

"Guess we could just ask him," Hal said as he nodded his head in the direction of the doors.

Ricardo paused for a fraction of a second as he saw Tank and Hal by his car, and I was pretty sure that his hand inched a couple of centimeters closer to the gun he kept at the small of his back. He stepped out into the parking lot and approached the Porsche. "Gentlemen," he said tonelessly as he stopped a few feet away from them.

"Manoso," Tank growled.

Ric said nothing, his face devoid of emotion.

Tank took a step forward, Hal drew a gun from his shoulder holster, and again I seriously considered calling 911.

Ricardo deftly side stepped them both and walked to the driver's door. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to get going. Have nice evening, guys."

"Hey!" Tank yelled. "You think you can just walk out of here? What the hell are you doing here, scum?"

Manoso raised an eyebrow. "What I do and where I go is none of your concern anymore, Pierre."

Tank growled, and Hal stepped up behind him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "He's just not worth it, boss."

"I don't know how you sleep at night," Tank spat as he clenched his hands into fists. "I should just shoot your worthless ass right now. Fuck, I should have killed you ten years ago, you bastard."

Okay, just what the heck was going on here, Tank knew Manoso ten years ago? It seemed like there was a serious history between the two of them; I'd always figured that it was of Ric's line of business that caused Tank to hate him, but evidently not. The nosey part of me really wanted to know the full story, but I wasn't about to pop out of the bushes and ask either man for a full explanation.

Manoso shifted uncomfortably at Tank's words and actually sighed; it seemed like the giant black man had hit a raw nerve. "Maybe you should have killed me, Pierre. You think a day goes by when I don't think about Janie?"

Tank lost it completely at those last words, and pulled his Glock, pointing directly at Manoso's head. "She was my fucking sister, you asshole! What you did to her…"

"Tank, boss," Hal said with a little uncertainty. "Leave it man; let's just get out of here before someone calls the cops."

Tank's gun was still trained on Ric. "This is not over, you hear me? I will put a bullet in you."

Manoso acknowledged his words with the barest of nods as Hal hauled Tank back to the truck and shoved him in the passenger side before getting behind the wheel and tearing out of the lot.

Holy Mary, Mother of God! Just what the heck was going on here? And what was this about Tank's sister and Manoso? I needed to do some serious dirt digging later on tonight.

As the tail lights faded down the block Ric seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and beeped the locks on his Porsche. Great, I could finally get out of here. The lights flashed and he took a step towards the car, then stopped and glanced down at the key fob. His brow creased as he studied the device in his hand and he pulled out his cell. "Hola chica, I think someone's been fucking with my wheels. Can you come down and check it out for me?"

"Thanks, babe. See you in ten."

He retreated to building entrance again and lit a smoke, before lounging up against the wall. Crap, I had just been out maneuvered; Manoso had anti tampering sensors fitted to the underside of his Porsche. Guess he was a pretty paranoid guy to have installed that sort of technology on his car. Maybe a lot of people were out to get him, or it could be that he was just over cautious.

I shifted position slightly to ease up the strain on my legs; I hadn't planned on being stuck here for so damn long, and hadn't bothered to think of a contingency plan either. Next time I do this sort of thing I need a better plan.

Manoso finished his cigarette and then lit another. He'd just stubbed out the remains of the second one with the toe of his boot when another black truck rolled into the lot. The Land Rover Defender was covered in lights, jacked up an extra few inches, sporting a snorkel, illegal tinted windows and a heck of a lot of checker plate. The driver dumped it in the middle of two parking spaces at the far end, a very long way from the Porsche, and a short red head in cut-off, knee length, urban print cammies and an oversized black hoodie slid from the cab.

She strode over to Ric, did some sort of complicated handshake thing, stole a cig and leant up against the wall next to him.

"Do you honestly think it's another bomb?" she quizzed in an English accent.

Manoso snorted. "How the fuck should I know; why do you think I called you in the first place, Toni?"

The young woman rolled her eyes, stomped back across the car park to her truck, chucked her finished cig in the bushes and pulled some gear out of the back. She returned to the Porsche with a Maglite and a small mirror on an extendable handle, then set about checking the undercarriage of the car. She found the device I'd planted with ease, tucked her long curls under a beanie hat that she'd pulled from one of the pockets in her cargos, and then dropped down to the ground and lay on her back to get a better look at the device.

The torch shone over the undercarriage. "It's just a tracker Ric, and a total fucking amateur job at that. Even you could have found that if you'd have bothered to look."

"Do I look to you like I go crawling around under my cars, babe?"

Toni pulled the small box off the car and looked it over. "Now that is freaky."

"What?"

She stood up, brushed the dirt off her ass and tugged off the hat. "Fucking damn expensive piece of equipment, but installed by a Muppet. Just doesn't make sense."

Muppet? Who the hell was she calling a Muppet, the bitch!

Ric frowned. "Tank was here."

Toni handed him the tracker. "Well it looks like one of his, but I'd bet my arse that he didn't fit it. I know Black Hawk's handy work when I see it, and that ain't it, darlin'."

"You sure?"

"It's what you pay me for. Now can I go? I was busy when you called."

"You'll wear my cousin out babe," Manoso chuckled.

"What, Lester? I really doubt that. You should-"

Ric held up his hand. "Stop! There are some things in life that I really don't want to know, and that includes the sex life of you and Les."

Toni grinned. "Just teasing you, man. I'll take the device and cross check it with the rest of Black Hawk's gear I've got stashed. It's probably in the same run of serial numbers as some of their others that I've pulled off our vehicles. Stupid tossers; for a bunch of professionals, you think they'd check out something as simple as the serial numbers. You want me to let you know what I find out?"

"Sure, just drop the paperwork in my office. Thanks chica, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd either get busted or blown up once a week."

He snorted. "Very true. Look, I hate to stand in the way of you and your sex life, but will you do me one more favor?"

"As long as it's a quick one."

"Will you check those two trackers for me?"

"The ones I planted on that bird?"

Ric nodded.

"The gear's back at our place. I'll check it for you when I get home and then call your cell."

"Thanks."

"No worries." She dropped a quick kiss on his cheek and stole another cig from his pack. "I'll catch you later, Ric."

"Night, Toni."

Toni climbed back into her truck and pulled out into the night. Ric followed the Land Rover's departure for a few seconds, and then turned back to look at his car. I couldn't read his expression very well, but he certainly seemed to be thinking about something.

The cramp in my legs had gotten pretty bad again, so I shifted my position. A twig cracked under my boot and I froze. Manoso whipped the Glock out from the back of his pants and pointed it in the direction of the bushes I was hiding in. "Who the fuck is there?" he yelled.

Oh crap.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to Robin for all her help and listening to me whine about the evil plot bunnies; I swear that she understands these guys better than I do sometimes. Thanks also to everyone who has reviewed; I appreciate each and every one. I'm so sorry for the delay; RL is crazy and Gemcraft Zero is out so I've been distracted by blowing up monsters.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Seven**

_The cramp in my legs had gotten pretty bad again, so I shifted my position. A twig cracked under my boot and I froze. Manoso whipped the Glock out from the back of his pants and pointed it in the direction of the bushes I was hiding in. "Who the fuck is there?" he yelled._

_Oh crap. _

I held my breath and prayed for a miracle. All my plotting and planning was about to go up in smoke because of one tiny little twig. Surely I was due a small bout of luck, right?

Manoso took a couple of steps closer to my hiding place, Glock still raised in his hand and I shut my eyes tight. I wasn't sure how it would help my pitiful situation, but it was the best thing that I could come up with at short notice. His boots crunched ever closer on the gravel strewn surface of the lot and I knew that the game was up. I opened my eyes again, only to see him standing a few feet away from the shrubbery with a smirk on his face and his gun at his side. How the hell did he know that I wasn't a threat?

"Stephanie," he crooned in a sing-song voice. "Come on out, Stephanie."

Maybe he had x-ray vision; not that I was going to make this easy for him. I kept quiet and tried not to move or pee my pants.

"I know it's you, babe. Who else would have access to a Black Hawk tracker, yet be totally inept at fitting it? Come on out so we can talk."

I really don't think so. Not in this lifetime, buster.

"Stephanie," he whispered menacingly as he holstered the gun and planted his hands on his hips. "Do I have to drag you out here kicking and screaming? Do you want me to manhandle you, treat you roughly? Is that what you want, chica?"

My heart leapt into my mouth and I was damn sure that he'd heard me gasp in shock at his words as nefarious visions coiled through my mind. My train of thought was abruptly halted when he took another step closer to me and I decided at that moment to make a run for it. I darted to my right and hugged the wall, before breaking cover when the undergrowth got too thick to get past and shot out into the open parking lot. I'd not made it five steps when a set of strong arms grabbed me from behind and hauled me off the ground, my feet kicking wildly in the air. Damn Manoso.

"Let me go, you bastard," I gritted out angrily as I tried to kick him in the knee cap.

Ric laughed. "Only if we get to do this again, babe. The fun of the chase is in the capture you know."

I refused to dignify him with a comment, so he laughed again and the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. What the hell was going on here? The man was a criminal, a dangerous lunatic, and my traitorous body was about to hit critical mass and go into meltdown. Deep down inside, in a dark little corner of my mind part of me wanted him to chase me, to catch me, to… Oh crap, I was in serious trouble here.

Manoso strode over to his Porsche, still carrying my like a rag doll and tossed me in the passenger seat. "Stay," he warned as he marched around to the driver's side and slid into the car with feline like grace. "Let's go for a little ride," he then suggested as he turned the engine over and revved it a little to make it purr like a cat, a large feral one at that; just like its owner.

"Where are we going?" I whispered as fear coiled in my gut. At this moment in time I wasn't sure what I was most scared of: Ric killing me or Ric having his way with me.

"Home," was his one word reply.

As he put the car in gear his cell rang. He paused, put the Porsche back in neutral and with a flick of his wrist flipped the phone open.

"What?"

"Really?"

"You sure?"

"No, I'm still there. Yeah it is very interesting. I'll see you in a few."

He hung up and looked over at me in the dim light. "Something you want to tell me, babe?"

I edged away from him slightly and shrugged. When in doubt, say nothing.

"I don't see that Ford I gave you in the lot, but according to Toni is should be right here. Care to explain?"

I shrugged again and kept up the silent routine.

"She also told me that according to her systems, the tracker I planted in your mobile phone is heading north at an alarming speed. Maybe you could explain that to me instead?"

"Freak malfunction caused by electrical interference?" I offered weakly.

"What did you do with them?" he demanded as he leaned in close.

I shot him the burg glare and crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Where's the truck, Steph?"

"What truck?"

"Fine," he growled in frustration. "You will talk to me and tell me what you've been doing, babe."

I rolled my eyes at his bullyboy tactics, and he fisted his hand in the front of my shirt, drawing us eye to eye, our noses almost touching and his cologne overwhelming my senses. "Everyone always talks, Stephanie. It's just a matter of time and finding what the person's weak spots are."

He let me go with a jerk and I slumped back in my seat, head bouncing off the passenger door window. My weaknesses when around Manoso just didn't bear thinking about. I took a deep breath to calm my hormones and wondered when the last time I shaved my legs was.

* * *

The Porsche cruised through the dark Trenton streets, wove across to the bad side of town, and then on into the warehouse district. Maybe Manoso was going to shoot me and stick my body in a dumpster; it was hard to read him, so I no clue as to what was running through his mind right now. He kept his eyes on the road and didn't bother to start a conversation. The longer the silence wore on, the more tense I got, and by the time we pulled up at what at first glance appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, I was ready to try my luck with escaping as the car slowed to a crawl.

My hand inched towards the seatbelt release and Ric shot me a harsh glare. "Don't even think about it, babe," he sneered. He hit a button on his car keys and a rusty metal rolling door slid slowly and noisily upwards, revealing a dark and cavernous interior that appeared to be empty. The light from the Porsche's headlights did little to penetrate the gloom, exposing nothing but a few support columns. Shit, this must be where he makes people disappear.

He steered the car inside once the door was high enough for the car to fit under, drove to the far end and parked alongside a high-end Mercedes, a couple of SUV's and what appeared to be Toni's Land Rover. Maybe I wasn't about to meet my untimely demise after all.

Ric moved around with relative ease in the dark building, but I seemed incapable of seeing more than a few inches in front of my face, and tripped over what seemed to be thin air a couple of times on our way to a small lit panel on the wall. It was only the presence of his strong arm clamped around my waist that kept me upright; it also quashed any ideas I had about thinking of another escape attempt.

Once at the green glowing thing, that turned out to be a key pad, he punched a series of numbers in and a set of elevator doors slid smoothly open; light spilled out from the car and cut a swath through the darkness, though apart from the cars the building seemed empty. With a shove to the small of my back, Manoso propelled me into the lift, the doors slid closed and he hit the button for the third floor. I backed away from him as much as I could in the small moving box and eyed him warily; who knew what was going on behind those cold eyes?

He smirked at me. "You think I'm gonna shoot you or something?"

"It's more the something that I'm worried about," I blurted out before I could stop myself. "I'm pretty sure that you won't shoot me though, right?"

Manoso raised an eyebrow and grinned. "No I won't shoot you, babe. I pay other people to do that for me."

Shit. "Oh."

He took a step towards me. "So it's the _something_ that you're worried about then?"

I took a step away and ended up in the far corner; not good planning on my part. "Yeah," I squeaked out.

Ric smiled wickedly and only the elevator doors opening saved me from further embarrassment.

He ushered me out of the lift and into what seemed to be a large loft apartment; clever place for a hide out. My progress faltered slightly as I spotted Bobby, Lester and Toni in the living area. Bobby glared at me over the top of his magazine, but Lester seemed either oblivious or un-phased by my appearance and continued to idly run his fingers through Toni's long hair as she dozed on the couch, head on his lap. They looked like any other thirty-somethings after a day at work, but I knew just how dangerous they were. I had nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide, and Manoso wanted answers as to the whereabouts of his truck and my trackers; I was doomed.

Ric pulled out a stool at the breakfast bar and motioned for me to sit down, before rummaging about in the fridge and pulling out a bottle of beer. "You want a drink?" he asked pleasantly.

I went for the single eyebrow raise, but failed and raised both of them at him instead. "Pardon?"

"Drink?"

Aargh, this man was so fucking infuriating; threatening one minute, nice as pie the next. It was like a good cop – bad cop routine, but with only one cop, and it was giving me a headache. "What happened to making me talk?" I grumbled.

He waved his hand flippantly. "Later; can't we have a beer first?"

I put my head in my hands. "You really confuse me, you know that."

Ric popped a bottle of Corona in front of me and shoved a wedge of lime in it. "What do you mean?"

"We're back to the chameleon act we talked about yesterday, oh and by the way I'm still mad at you," I grumbled. "What did you do with my car?"

"What did you do with my truck?"

Touché.

"Rufus has it," Bobby interjected.

Ric slammed his bottle of beer down on the counter and burst out laughing. After about a minute, he wiped the tears from his face and grinned at me. "How much did he pay you?"

"$22,500 and a five year old Ford Focus, why?"

"Because not only did you sell me my own car back, but I was ripped off in the process. Man, that's fucking priceless."

Oh crap, now I'm really for it.

"I own Stark Street, babe," he continued. "Nothing happens down there without me finding out about it."

Apart from someone murdering your whores, I thought to myself.

"So what did you do with the tracker, babe?"

I picked at the label on the beer bottle and shrugged; like I was going to tell him.

"$100 says she put it on another car," Toni piped up from across the room.

"In the dumpster," Lester countered.

"Shrubbery," Bobby offered as he slapped $100 on the coffee table. "Boss?"

Ric frowned. "What's the accuracy of these things?" he asked Toni.

"About twenty meters, give or take."

He pulled a couple of fifties from his wallet. "In your apartment," he said as he put the money down on the counter in front of me.

I grinned and shook my head. "Toni was right; I put it on Mrs Bestler's Buick."

"Damn, I'm good," Toni smiled as she collected her winnings. "$100 says that the other one is in a delivery truck."

"Greyhound bus," Ric suggested as he pulled out more cash. "Guys?"

"Another car," Lester offered.

Bobby frowned. "Not a clue, count me out of this round."

"Well?" Ric pressed.

I couldn't believe that they didn't figure it out. "I posted it airmail to Alaska, so I suspect that it's on a plane about now heading North West. This money mine?"

Toni nodded and handed me her cash, and Ric smiled as he gave me what he owed. "Told you I'd get you to talk, Steph."

Cogs turned in my head and I realized what they'd just done. I'd been outmaneuvered by all four of them, and I'd not even figured out that they were doing it. Shit, so much for keeping quiet. This day was a total and utter cluster fuck. "That was not funny," I muttered.

"What were you expecting, Chinese water torture and bamboo slivers?" Manoso teased.

"He usually just fucks pretty little things like you senseless when he wants something, chica," Lester leered as he handed me his money. The effect was ruined slightly when Toni clipped him around the back of the head.

I picked at the beer label again and kept quiet; this was all too much to process. I was supposed to be avoiding Manoso, but that plan had backfired. All of Black Hawk were hunting my ass down and now I was stuck in a loft with three dangerous men and I would suspect an equally dangerous woman. I'd defiantly lost my paddle and this shitty looking creek was flowing faster and faster. I felt like Alice as she tumbled down the rabbit hole, and any minute now I was expecting someone to offer me the choice of either the red or blue pill.

"Why were you running from me, babe?" Ric asked softly.

"Why? Because you're a lunatic, you kill people or make them disappear, you've been stalking me for months, I disagree with your business ethics, I won't take your gifts or dirty money, and now I'm stuck working on this case for you, and I'll be damned if I let you take over and tell me how to do my job!" I spat out.

All the bastard did was nod. "Fair enough, and it wasn't a bad effort either. Little sloppy around the edges, but still, proud of you, babe."

I looked at him incredulously. "You're not mad?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure I can think of a way for you to make it up to me."


	8. Chapter 8

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Eight**

_I looked at him incredulously. "You're not mad?"_

"_Yeah, but I'm sure that I can think of a way for you to make it up to me."_

Oh shit. "Bathroom," I blurted out suddenly. "I have to, you know…"

Manoso smirked at my flustered outburst. "Down the hall, second door on the right."

Without further comment I high-tailed it out of the kitchen and to the safety of the cloakroom. I did sort of need to go, but it was also the first damn thing that I could think of to get away from Ric and his innuendo laden comment. I was not going to sleep with that thug, no way, no how! So he may be attractive, but he was a seriously bad guy, and not someone I wanted to have romantic or even sexual entanglements with now or ever for that matter.

Sure he was hot; he was the hottest guy I had ever seen, then again, the smug bastard knew that. He knew that he was damn fine and I was pretty sure that he used that to his advantage to as Lester had put it, get what he wanted. I was not going to be another notch on his bedpost, nor would I be used like that.

Even worse, what would people think? My mother would drink herself into a coma, my father – well he might look up from the paper long enough to give me a disapproving look, but funnily enough my biggest fear was of Tank and the Black Hawk guys, despite me being on their shit list right at this second in time. Dating Manoso would pretty much kill any trust I had with them, and without their help, my bounty hunting career would be over and I'd end up at the button factory. I could not afford to get distracted by Ricardo Manoso, despite my stupid hormones telling me otherwise. Besides, who knew just how many other women he was screwing. And that's all I'd be, a quick screw. No matter how good he'd be in bed, I was worth more than that.

I finally managed to relieve myself and splashed a little cold water on my face as I washed my hands. The woman that looked back at me in the mirror appeared slightly frightened, freaked out even; kind of the rabbit caught in the headlights look. In short I looked like shit.

I slowly eased the door open and came face to face with Toni. She was leant against the wall and holding a couple of bottles of beer.

"Have another drink, love, you look like you could use it," she said with a smile as she handed me a bottle of Corona.

"Thanks," I murmured.

"No worries," she replied as she took a long pull on her beer; some strange English brew called Sheepshagger. Toni caught my bemused look. "What, you think I'd drink that piss you lot call beer? You can take the girl outta England, but you can't take England out of the girl. Anyway, why don't we have a little chat, Steph."

Why on earth would she want to talk to me? Instead I nodded, looked around cautiously for Manoso and then followed her down the hall to what I assumed to be the room she shared with Lester.

The bedroom was a good size and the first thing that struck me was the lack of windows and natural light. You could see by the change in color in the stonework that they had been bricked up at some point. She just shrugged, like it meant nothing to her to live without daylight. "Safer that way." Was her short and to the point explanation when she caught me looking at the bare wall.

Hell, this was not good. I glanced around the rest of the interior. A huge wrought iron bed frame took up most of the space, along with a couple of clothing rails packed with a lot of black, a small desk, an antique looking sofa that didn't fit with the rest of the room, a door to what was more than likely the bathroom, and a metal safe presumably for guns.

Toni breezed past me, straightened out the rumpled satin sheets, kicked a couple of pairs of handcuffs under the bed with the toe of her boot and sat down on top of the covers. "Have a seat; I won't bite."

"Right," I said slowly as I sat down as far away from her as possible without seeming to be impolite.

She looked over at me and smiled again. "He's not that bad you know."

"Huh?"

"Ric, he's not that bad."

She was nuts. "We are talking about the same guy here, right? Ric Manoso, runs guns, drugs and pimps out women. Would have a rap sheet a mile long if he didn't appear to have a heck of a lot of connections in high places, all round bad ass. That Ric Manoso, yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah, that Ric Manoso, but-"

"But what? He's actually a decent guy? It's all an act? Shit, you would say that wouldn't you? I mean you're shacked up with Lester; he broke my fucking nose, I honestly don't know how you can sleep with that monster!"

Toni studied me with cold grey eyes. They were actually a storm grey and her look was as dark as any thunder cloud. "Let's play twenty questions," she gritted out. "Tank's a good guy?"

"Yeah," I responded, slightly puzzled as to what she was driving at.

"So it's okay for Tank to toss a drug dealer out of a window then?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You say Tank's a good guy, so it's okay for him to throw a guy out of a third story window just because he deals drugs? That Tank can treat the residents of Stark and Comstock like shit and get away with it 'cos he's a good guy," she sneered.

I paused, unsure of what to say. "I… He has to uphold his reputation," I offered weakly.

She shook her head sadly. "But if Ric did that, then he's a bad guy, right? By stamping down on petty turf war squabbles, making the place safer for everyone else and maybe breaking a few bones here and there is the wrong thing to do, that he's a bad guy for doing that?"

Shit, this was difficult. She was somehow making this seem so less clear cut than it was supposed to be. Black Hawk were the good guys, and Manoso was the bad guy, supposedly. "Is there a right answer to any of your questions?"

Toni smiled. "Not really, I just want you to open your eyes and see the bigger picture. So anyway, does Tank have body guards?"

I thought back to all the times I'd seen him on the job; he did always have a shadow – either Hal or Zero. I nodded again.

"Okay, why?"

"To watch his back."

"Bingo! Give the girl a prize," she responded sarcastically. "What do you think Les and Bobby do?"

"Beat me up!" I yelled as I jumped up from the bed and paced the floor in front of her, my mind reeling as I felt totally and utterly confused.

Toni rolled her eyes. "It's all about intimidation, love. Ric operates no differently to Tank and the Black Hawk crew. In fact I'd say that they put less people in hospital than Tank and his band of thugs. What you see right now when you look at Ric and the boys is a bad guy and his enforcers; there's a hell of a lot more to him, to all of them than that."

"He deals drugs!" I protested.

"Does he?"

I wanted to say of course, but it was back to his reputation; it was possibly all hearsay. But it must have been true, no smoke without fire, right? Instead I took another tack. "So what does he really do then?"

Toni shrugged. "That's something he'll have to tell you, love."

This was crazy and too much to process. I chugged down a couple of mouthfuls of beer and studied her intently. Why was she speaking up on behalf of Manoso, was it just loyalty or was there another reason?

"What will I have to tell Steph?"

I spun around and looked at Ric lounging in the half open doorway.

Toni actually looked shocked for a second, and tossed a balled up sock at him, and when he didn't even flinch, one of her boots followed it. "It's damn fucking rude to walk in on people, buster. God only knows what you could have seen."

Ric smirked, but his eyes appeared cold. "Lester's still in the lounge so I think my sanity is safe for now, babe. So, what do I need to tell Stephanie?"

"How about the truth?" Toni demanded as she tossed her empty bottle aside, stood up and put her hands on her hips.

His eyes went darker and he stepped into the room, slammed the door shut and further closed the distance between himself and Toni. "Maybe I should have put a fucking bullet in you when I found out who you were, bitch," he hissed.

Toni glared back at him. "Take a fucking number, buddy."

"Or I could tell your boyfriend just who he is really fucking," Ric snarled.

She snorted. "What, and have him figure out in five seconds flat what's really going on around here? Not even you are that bloody stupid, Manoso."

"You've just ratted me out, you bitch!"

"Bullshit! I've just suggested to the woman that you want to do your dirty work that maybe she needs to start asking a few more questions. Whether you choose to answer them or not is up to you."

Manoso shook his head slowly and walked up to Toni, balled his fist in the front of her hoodie like he had done to me in the Prosche, and then suddenly pulled his Glock and pressed it to the side of her head. "You have your uses, spook, but that does not mean that you are not expendable."

Toni seemed as cool as a cucumber, while I was about to pee my pants, and I wasn't the one with a gun pressed to the side of my head. Ricardo grunted and I looked over to see a very sharp looking knife pressed to his crotch. Toni grinned wickedly. "And never forget that while you also have your uses, Manoso, you are very expandable. I know all your dirty little secrets. I know about the Columbian deal you pulled off and about the very shady deal with that group in Uzbekistan. I know where all the money is stashed, I know your standard operating procedures and I know how you pull the wool over their eyes. So you might just want to think again before making threats in my general direction. Do we have an understanding here?"

What the hell was she talking about?

Ric let her go with a jerk. "You better watch your back, bitch."

Toni batted her eyelashes at him and smiled sweetly. "But who would then watch your back, Ric? You need me, and you know it. You kill me and you'd be dead by next Wednesday, and that would really put a cramp in your plans for world domination, wouldn't it?"

"Fuck!" he growled as he stalked towards the door.

She followed in his wake and when he got to the door, Toni put her hand on his arm, he glanced at her and she jerked her head in my direction. "Trust her, Ric; I'd trust her if I was you. Let her in; tell her what's really going on. If she didn't give a shit about you then she wouldn't be here, and if you didn't give a shit about her then she wouldn't be here either.

"Not every woman who walks into your life is going to be like Janie, and if you don't get your head out of your arse then women will stop walking into your life, and all you be is sad and lonely. Money isn't everything, bro; it certainly doesn't keep you warm at night."

Ric turned back to face her, the anger gone. He drew her close and gently put his palm on her cheek. "You really love my cousin don't you?"

She nodded. "More than anything in the world. Do you honestly think I play by the rules anymore? Shit, sometimes I wonder if I even have a job left; I already suspect that they know I've gone rogue. If they ever called me back in I wouldn't go, I'm not leaving him or you for that matter. It's not about the money or the fucking glory any more bro, it's about protecting those I love. So please Ric, let her in. She's not going to hurt you."

His gaze flicked over to me and then back to Toni. "What makes you so sure?"

"It's a woman thing. Now fuck off and tell my lover that I want his arse in here in less than five minutes flat, preferably naked, and then go talk to this poor woman here and tell her exactly what you've dropped her in the middle of. You at least owe her that much. And besides, what's the worst she can do, run? We've all see how shit she is at that."

Ric nodded. "Fine, but if this fucks up, I'll put a cap in your ass."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

He walked over to me, offered me his hand and looked into my eyes. He had that vulnerable act going on again, and it made my hormones go into melt down. I just knew that whatever he said to me now, I'd agree to it.

"Babe, we need to talk."

Run! my mind screamed; denial was still my best friend and I really didn't want to know what he wanted to tell me, but my stupid hormones took over and I just nodded, took his hand and followed him out of the room. I was so screwed; I'd tumbled head first down that rabbit hole and any moment now I'd be talking to stoned caterpillars and fishing dormice out of the tea pot.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Nine**

_He walked over to me, offered me his hand and looked into my eyes. He had that vulnerable act going on again, and it made my hormones go into melt down. I just knew that whatever he said to me now, I'd agree to it. _

"_Babe, we need to talk."_

_Run! my mind screamed; denial was still my best friend and I really didn't want to know what he wanted to tell me, but my stupid hormones took over and I just nodded, took his hand and followed him out of the room. I was so screwed; I'd tumbled head first down that rabbit hole and any moment now I'd be talking to stoned caterpillars and fishing doormice out of the tea pot._

Ric ushered me further down the hall and unlocked the last door on the right. He reached inside with his hand and flipped the lights on, before gesturing for me to enter. I hesitated for a second, unsure that I wanted to be alone with him for any period of time, and then bit the bullet and stepped over the threshold.

Manoso certainly seemed to have the biggest room in the place. A large sectional sat directly in front of me along with a cluttered coffee table and flat screen TV. To my right was a breakfast bar, small kitchen and a large set of double doors that were currently open, giving a glimpse of the end of his bed. Guess he didn't have to mingle with his posse if he didn't want to.

"Beer's in the fridge; help yourself, babe. I'll be back in a minute; I just need to speak to Les before Toni hunts him down and drags him to bed by the hair."

I shook my head at the mental image that I'd just conjured up. "More likely the other way around," I muttered bitterly; I still didn't think much of that bastard, despite Toni being under the illusion that he was an okay guy.

Ric raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You'd be surprised, babe; she's got my cousin under her spell, and if she wants him naked and flat on his back in their bed then he'll do just that. She has all the power in their relationship."

My mind drifted back to Toni kicking a couple of pairs of handcuffs under the bed and I blushed, trying my best not to think about what they got up to behind closed doors.

"Exactly," Ric said with a smirk.

I frowned. "How do you know what I'm thinking?"

He shrugged. "I just figure that you'd just worked out why they have handcuffs under the bed, a wrought Iron bed frame covered in scarves and a collection of candles on the nightstand, not to mention what they keep in said nightstand."

I blushed again, but this time I wasn't thinking of Lester and Toni's bedroom antics. I was in fact imagining how Ric would look in candle light, handcuffed to his bed while I… Shit! Get a grip, Plum. I glanced at Ric, and the bastard was smirking yet again, but his dark eyes blazed with lust. "Lester," I said quickly as I looked away. "You should go, you know…"

"Make yourself comfortable," he whispered in my ear as he prowled out of the door like a large and deadly predator.

I needed more beer. Maybe if I got drunk everything would make more sense. The large fridge was stocked with rabbit food, a stash of beer, a few expensive bottles of wine and a large bowl of strawberries. My traitorous mind suddenly thought up 101 things to do with said strawberries and Ric Manoso, and I grabbed a bottle of beer and pressed the cool glass to my forehead in a pathetic attempt to reign in my rampaging hormones. I needed to focus, I needed to find out just what the hell was going on around here, and thinking about nothing but naked Latino hunks was not the best course of action right now.

After a brief rummage of his kitchen, I found the bottle opener, popped the cap on the Corona and settled myself at the breakfast bar. There was no way I was sitting on that couch, as I'd have no control as to where Ric sat, and I certainly didn't want to sit next to him right now. The man himself reappeared a couple of minutes later. He grabbed a beer and leant against the counter opposite me.

This time I took charge of the conversation. "Well?"

He looked up at me and actually bit his lip in hesitation before he spoke. "You have to promise me that you won't repeat a word of what I tell you outside of this room, chica."

You're serious about this aren't you?" I said as I looked at him.

"Deadly."

"Okay, fine. I promise." Who the hell would I tell anyway, my mother?

He nodded and let out a breath. "Thank you."

What I expected was for him to instantly start talking, but he didn't. Instead he sat in silence while he fiddled with the label on his bottle of beer. Whatever he was going to tell me, it was clear that he didn't wish to impart the information. The look on his face was one of apprehension, and I was pretty sure that I'd not seen that look on him before. Eventually I tried to break the ice. "So this is where you tell me you're a good guy, right?" I quipped.

Ric whipped his head up and met my gaze full on. "Do I looking like one of the fucking good guys to you?" he sneered.

Okay, wrong move on my part. I shrugged. "I have no idea, why don't you tell me?" I pressed, in the hope of making him talk to me, open up a little.

"I run guns, I run drugs and I currently have about half a dozen ho's who live in some of the apartment buildings I own on Stark. Still think I'm a good guy?"

I frowned. "But Toni said-"

"Toni should have kept her fucking mouth shut," he growled. "The bitch talks too much for her own good sometimes."

"Who is she?" I whispered hesitantly.

"She works for MI6 – British Intelligence; she's a spy."

"Like James Bond or something?"

Ric snorted. "I'll tell her you said that. Let's just go with the 'something' again, okay?"

I nodded and took a long pull on my beer. "Maybe you could start at the beginning; I might not be so confused then."

"You really want to know?"

"Yes."

He ran his hands through his long hair and signed. "Fine. Are you sitting comfortably?"

I smiled slightly at his crazy words and nodded.

"Okay, then I'll begin. Once upon a time there was a street punk, his cousin and his mates and they were all in the same gang in Newark. They sold drugs and guns, boosted cars, got into fights over turf with other gangs, and spent a hell of a lot of time dodging the cops. In short this street punk really was a punk, and he believed that his life would never change and chances were that he'd be dead by the time he was in his mid twenties."

I looked at him in shock. "I don't know what to say," I managed eventually.

"Still want to be alone in a room with me?" he quizzed waspishly.

I swallowed some more beer, drained the bottle and thumped it down on the counter, unwilling to be phased by what he had to say anymore. "Sure, but only if you get me another beer."

Ric appeared a little shocked at my response, but nodded and went to the fridge. What had I honestly expected him to tell me, that he was a decent guy who'd never done bad things in his life? Not even I was that stupid.

He set a fresh beer in front of me and took a sip of his own. "So yeah, the good old days."

"You're still alive," I commented.

"Barely," he laughed bitterly. "Though some days I wish I was dead."

How the hell could he say that? "Why?"

"Because I feel like a rat in a fucking wheel, stuck in a situation of my own making and I want to get off but I can't."

"What happened?"

He shook his head sadly. "The shit hit the fan; my world came crashing down around my ears and I took what seemed the easy way out at the time."

"Does this have anything to do with Janie?" I asked softly.

"It all starts with her," he replied as he suddenly walked away, heading towards the bedroom. "Excuse me a moment," he murmured as he brushed past me.

Was he crying? Who was this woman, and what the hell happened to make a tough guy like Ric Manoso tear up, even, what was it Tank had said, ten years later? My stomach growled and I realized that I'd not actually eaten any dinner yet. With a heavy sigh I got up and rummaged in the fridge again. Yuck! Apart from the strawberries, there was really nothing edible. Maybe he had some cheap bread and peanut butter stashed in one of his cupboards, or maybe not. I did some more ferreting around and came up with a packet of crackers, but that was about it. I eventually settled on those and some low fat cream cheese.

By the time I was slathering the crackers in cheese Ric reappeared. "Make yourself at home, why don't you," he teased.

I studied him closely, and it didn't look like he'd been crying. Maybe I'd just imagined it. "I never got any dinner," I told him.

"Ahh, because you were skulking in the bushes?"

"Something like that."

"So what did Tank and Hal want then?"

I blushed and studied the crackers intently.

"Well?" he pressed.

"I needed a tracker to plant on your car," I stated.

"But that doesn't explain why Tank was making a house call," Ric shot back.

I could feel my ears getting red; there was no way I was going to tell him anything.

"Tell me what happened babe, and I'll call for some takeout."

Shit, now that was playing dirty. "Okay, fine. I knew that Tank wouldn't just give me a tracker without asking a million questions, and I wasn't about to tell him that I wanted to plant it on your car…"

He gestured with his hand for me to continue.

"Okay, well thankfully Tank wasn't there, but Hal was. So I charmed him into the store room where the equipment is kept and then stunned him, stole the tracker and a bunch of other stuff that might come in useful and the drove off."

Ric spat a mouthful of beer all over the counter top, and then broke out in a coughing fit. "Let me get this straight, you used your," he pointed in the vague direction of my chest, "feminine charms to lure Black Hawk's 2IC into a store room, stunned him and then stole Black Hawk equipment?"

I nodded.

Ric grinned. "No wonder Tank looked like he was on the war path. Babe that was just fucking class. And so you went to tag my car, and by doing that, it would have achieved you what?"

"So I'd know where you were so I could avoid you, and you wouldn't be able to find me because I'd ditched my trackers and sold your truck," I confessed.

"Why would you want to avoid me, babe?"

"Because you scare me," I blurted out before I could stop myself. "And because you'd interfere with me looking into this case for you; you'd want to take over, and I need to do things my way."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I knew you thought outside the box, but I may have underestimated you. Then again, I'd have found you in your apartment, unless you were going to stay at a hotel that is."

"Dougie and Mooner's place; I charmed the spare key of Mrs Kowalski next door and got a copy made."

"Clever, I doubt that even Toni would have found you there, and she's good," he commented. "But it was a little overkill, babe. I'm not gonna interfere with your work. I want to know what is going on, and I trust you to do your job. Maybe you need to start trusting me a little more."

It was my turn to spit beer all over the counter top. "Maybe I'd trust you if I knew who the hell you really are. I want to know, all of it; I need to understand who Ric Manoso is."

"Okay, but let me get some food ordered and then I'll finish telling you about my sordid past."

"Promise?"

"Yeah babe, I promise."

I nodded. "Can we get dessert, I really need dessert." And I did. Something with chocolate and calories and fat.

"There's strawberries in the fridge, and I might have some cream somewhere. Sounds like a good dessert to me, what do you say babe?"

Eeek!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay; my muse has been very unco-operative. Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing; it means a lot to me.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Ten**

I fished out a prawn and a couple of noodles from my take out container, popped them in my mouth and chewed thoughtfully as I tried to work up the courage to push Ric for more information on his past. So far since dinner had arrived he'd said nothing except comment on my choice of beverage – water. I'd decided that getting drunk was actually a very bad idea as I'd lost count of the number of beers that I'd consumed since I got here. Was it three or four? Too many, that was for sure.

He set his empty container down on the coffee table, shoved a pile of paperwork to one side, propped his feet up and lounged back on the couch. His hair was down, his eyes were closed and the aura of menace that usually surrounded him had dissipated. He actually looked like a normal guy, albeit a very sexy one, but still normal, well normal-ish.

His bottle of beer dangled loosely in one hand and he opened his eyes and looked at me. "Guess I should just get on with it, huh?"

I nodded. "If you want to; I'm not going to push, but I would like to know."

"Okay, so by the time I was twenty, my crew and I had pretty much taken over the south side of Newark; nothing moved on those streets without me knowing about it. Tank was my right hand man, watched my back and did most of the dirty work while I ran the whole operation. Janie was his little sister; nineteen to his twenty one. She was a beautiful young woman – my woman and everything was fine, until she got hooked on smack. I tried everything I could think of to get her clean; tried to keep her dirty secret away from Tank too, as I knew it would kill him if he found out. Not that it mattered, she overdosed just days before her twentieth birthday; I found her dead in my living room with a needle in her arm."

What could I say to that? "I'm sorry," I finally replied.

Ric shrugged. "It's okay; can't change the past."

"So what happened then?"

"Tank hit the fucking roof; blamed me for her death. I tried to tell him that I'd been trying to get her off the damn stuff, but he wouldn't listen. He said that it was probably me that stuck the needle in her arm. He knew it wasn't true – none of us would have touched that shit, but Tank's grief turned him against me and he set out to bring me down."

"Ouch, that's nasty," I said as I looked at him. He seemed sad, vulnerable and maybe a little older, and my heart went out to him just a little.

"He was simply doing what he thought was the best way to redeem his sister; I can't blame him for that. He succeeded too – totally shafted my entire operation. Somehow he managed to make a deal with someone so he walked away in the clear, and then he signed up and joined the army. The rest of my crew, well most of the guys went down, but I managed to make a deal of my own to take the heat off myself, Les and Bobby."

"What sort of deal?" I asked cautiously.

Ric shot me a grim smile. "I sold my soul to the ATF, the FBI and a shit load of other alphabet agencies."

I frowned. "I'm not sure that I understand."

He drained his beer and set the empty down on the coffee table. "I work for the government, not that anyone other than Toni or yourself knows that, got that?"

Somehow, I wasn't all that surprised. Guess he really was a good guy. "Sure. But what do you actually do?"

"I do what I've always done, just that now I pass on a fuck of a lot of information to the government to assist with drugs and arms busts; I'm just a little fish in a very big pond."

"I don't get it; I mean you're what, a double agent?"

"That's about right."

"But why didn't they get someone else to do that and lock you up instead? Why let you go?"

"Because, babe," he said with a sly smile, "Who would suspect a man with my reputation? I was simply too good of an opportunity for the government to pass up."

"So all this," I said as I waved my hand around the room, "Everything is a scam?"

"Maybe," he responded cryptically.

Oh. What had Toni said earlier, something about some deals somewhere? Was it Argentina, Columbia maybe? "You still deal on the side, don't you?"

"Maybe," he replied again as his lips curved up slightly.

I stood up and paced across the front of the couch and then back again as I tried to connect all the dots. "Tell me how you met Toni."

Ric shrugged. "She just turned up in Trenton, got it on with Les and that's about it."

"But she's a spy…"

"Yeah, but she was chasing after a deal with myself and the IRA that was legally sanctioned by the US government. There was no dirt for her to find on that job, well only what the U.S government should have told the British government, that is."

"Right, but Ric, she's still here."

He shrugged. "She got a hunch and called me out. I told her the truth and for some crazy reason that I suspect to be my cousin, she stuck around. She feeds useful intel to MI6 that our government should maybe have told them. I guess they figure that seeing as the info she passes on is of serious interest, she can do what she pleases. If my operation seems to be a little on the dodgy side then I've so far got away with it; I don't think that the British spook squad could give a shit. Why should they care about some guy who runs guns for the US government? They're more interested in what the U.S security services are up to, not me."

I tried to process all the information in my beer fuddled little brain and after a couple of minute's silence I was pretty sure that I'd got everything in order. "So Toni is spying on our government and Tank still thinks that you are a bad guy, right?

"Yeah, and I am a bad guy, babe."

"You work for the government, Ric."

He coughed. "Amongst others."

"Jeez," I muttered as I shook my head. "I can't believe that you're double crossing the government."

"Why?"

"I just – I don't know. Just seems like a very stupid thing to do."

Ric let out a bark of laughter. "I now have more money and resources that I'd ever thought possible. The government job has actually made it easier for me to pull off some of the lucrative side deals I've made over the last few years. What would you do?"

What would I do? Never have gotten in the situation in the first place. "And yet I hear a _but, _despite what you've just told me."

"Maybe. Some days I'm just so fucking sick of this life. If it's not Tank trying to take a piece of me, it's some other fucker. If the shit hit the fan, the government would just deny my existence. My only safety net is fear and the three main people in my life I trust to watch my back. The only way out of this for me is in a box; this is a job for life, and sometimes I wonder just how much longer this job is going to last."

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times as I attempted to put some words into some semblance of order. "You could walk away; fake your death, something."

The smile he gave me this time was a sad one. "Toni and I put a couple of plans into place, but both of us know that the chances of them panning out are slim. She wants out of this cluster fuck as much as I do, but I know that she won't leave us; I guess it's amazing what people will do for love."

"Love conquers all," I suggested.

"I once believed that. I'd have married Janie, had kids with her, but I can't do that now. My life is one long nightmare and I guess that I have no one but myself to blame," Ric gritted out.

I sat down next to him on the sofa and put a hand on his arm. "Nothing is ever as bad as it seems."

He snorted. "No? So those dead whores all died of natural causes and someone isn't trying to frame me or piss on my territory?"

"We'll figure it out."

"That a promise, babe?"

I rubbed my hands over my face wearily and looked over at him. "Yeah Ric, it's a promise.

"How?"

I pondered his question. "Get dessert and then I'll explain."

He got up and rummaged around in the fridge, glassware chinked, and after a couple of minutes he brought over a couple of bowls of strawberries and cream, and then went back for a bottle of Champaign and some very expensive looking glasses. I eyed the bottle with suspicion – more alcohol was not on my menu tonight.

Ric caught my look and he smiled. "What, you think I'm trying to get you drunk so I can have my wicked way with you?" he teased.

"With you I'm never quite sure," I shot back, wincing as it came out slightly harsher than expected.

Something dark flashed in his eyes and I flinched. He set the bottle down and slowly ran his fingers down my cheek. "Don't ever doubt that I want you in my bed babe, but I'm not going to force you."

"What about the twelve hours you demanded?"

"I never said that I wanted sex with you, I merely asked for twelve hours of your time. If you got the impression that I was going to spend every minute of it making love to you, then that was something your own imagination conjured up."

I flushed. I mean come on, what else would he have wanted from me? Twelve hours of my scintillating conversation? No, I didn't think so.

"Besides," he continued. "Twenty-four hours would have been better."

"Twenty-four?"

"Yeah," he breathed as he picked up a cream coated strawberry and held it to my lips. "I might have just about run out of energy by then."

Holy Cow! I took the offered fruit and chewed on it thoughtfully all the while trying to reign in my hormones. Despite his suave moves, I was not up for being another piece of ass "I'm sorry, but I don't do casual sex."

"Who said it was casual?" he breathed as he ran another strawberry over my lower lip, smearing it with cream.

I licked my lips clean and scowled. "You think I'm stupid, that I won't be anything more than another notch upon your bedpost?"

Ric jerked back, almost as if I'd slapped him. "You think I bring women around here all the time, that I have a different floozy in my bed every night?"

I nodded. "Pretty much."

"Wrong," he hissed out. "I do not do that; too many people want me dead and death is not always some gang banger in a dark alley; it could be some piece of ass that I picked up in a bar and the first thing I would know about it is the bullet to my brain while I was in her bed."

"Sucks to be you, right?" I shot back.

"You have no fucking idea, little Miss Burg!" he yelled. The empty glass in his hand sailed through the air and connected with the far wall. "You think I want to live like this?"

I shook my head as I stood up. "I have no idea, and if it's all the same, I think I'll be going now. I have skips to catch, murderers to chase…"

Ric's hand shot out and latched onto my wrist. "Sit."

I tried to pull my hand free, but he wouldn't budge. "Look, asshole," I spat out. "We've done this routine before; I am not your dog, or your property, so take your fucking hands off me!"

His hand dropped away like I'd burned him and he stalked away into the kitchen. "Fine!" he yelled back at me. "And I am not the bastard that you think I am, Stephanie. I'm simply a man and for once in my fucking life I want something good, something pure in it. Is that too much to ask, babe?"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **I'd just like to thank all of you have have sent me messages about this fic. You'll be pleased to know that I've finally found my muse again.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Eleven**

_His hand dropped away like I'd burned him and he stalked into the kitchen. "Fine!" he yelled back at me. "And I am not the bastard that you think I am, Stephanie. I'm simply a man and for once in my fucking life I want something good, something pure in it. Is that too much to ask, babe?"_

What the hell was I supposed to say to that? I blushed furiously at his comments, not just because of what he thought of me, but because I still kept treating him like the scum of the earth. I was far from pure, and too judgmental by half. I had to stop looking at the outside, and start looking at what Ric Manoso carried in his heart.

With my mind in turmoil I realized that I'd been silent for too long because Manoso looked over at me sadly and shook his head. "Don't sweat it, babe. Didn't think you'd want to slum it with some punk from the barrio."

I massaged my temples with my finger tips. "No that wasn't what-"

I was thankfully interrupted by someone hammering on Ric's bedroom door. He cursed under his breath and shoved past me to get by. "What?" he barked as he popped the lock and jerked the door open.

I glanced around and saw Bobby hovering in the doorway. "Ric, man… Look I'm sorry to bother you, but you need to hear this, the police scanners are going crazy; I pretty sure someone's off-ed another of our girls."

"Fuck!" he yelled as he slammed the side of his fist against the plasterwork inches from Bobby's head. "Haul Lester and Toni out of bed, get one of them down there and find out what the fuck is going on."

Bobby nodded and backed away fast. "I'm on it."

Ric turned back to me and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Whatever it was you were going to fob me off with can wait for now, Stephanie. I need to deal with this shit."

I could soul search and wade though emotional crap later; there was more important things to be doing right now, like catching this killer. "Let me help you."

He stepped up to me and looked in my eyes. I wasn't sure what he was looking for, but the blank mask softened slightly. "You sure you want to get involved with me, with this? There's no going back, chica. I'm gonna be a gentleman right now, given the fucked up mess I'm dealing with; if you want to walk away from all this, you say it now and I'll take you home and you can forget you ever met me."

"No, I want to help. It doesn't matter why someone is doing this, they are killing innocent women and I want that stopped. This isn't about you, it's about justice for those dead women."

Manoso shot me an almost smile, though it was still tinged with sadness. "Thank you, you are an amazing woman, Stephanie Plum and while I'd like to talk more with you about how you fuck my head up, I need to find out what has got the Trenton PD's panties in a bunch."

I followed him down the hall and into the first room on the left; it was filled with communications equipment, computer hardware and a squawking radio in the far corner that was set to the police band. Ric immediately sat down at the far desk by the radio and started taking notes.

I felt like a spare part. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Coffee would be good; I could do with a clear head, babe."

I headed back out to the kitchen and found Bobby talking in rapid-fire Spanish into his cell; I didn't understand a word of what he was talking about, but he sounded pissed. He flipped the phone shut with a snap and stared at me with his dark soulless eyes.

I suppressed the urge to shudder or squirm under his gaze. "Coffee?" I asked as politely as I could muster.

"Sure, whatever," he muttered as he stalked back down the corridor to what I guess was the office.

It took me a couple of minutes to locate the mugs, and was just setting things on the counter when Toni came in. She was dressed in black fish net stockings, a very short leather mini skirt and an obscene low cut top. Her hair was piled on top of her head and her face smeared in about an inch of makeup. In one hand she carried a pair of thigh-high spike-heeled boots and in the other she was carrying a box full of makeup supplies.

"You are a star, love; mine's black with two sugars, please," she said as she set her gear down on the breakfast bar.

I poured her a cup and checked out her bizarre outfit again.

Toni caught my look and shrugged. "Undercover – bit of re-con; need to get a sit rep."

"Right…"

She smiled and pulled a tube of some weird ass foundation out of her box of stuff. "I'm too well known down there; can't turn up dressed in black with a bad attitude – the cops will know who I am in an instant. I gotta approach this from a different angle if I want to learn anything."

"What if you get arrested?" I asked. "There's bound to be half of the Trenton cops swarming around down there."

"True," Toni replied as she rubbed the concealer across the visible tattoo on her shoulder. "Didn't think of that. Hey, you want to tag along? Anyone asks and you can just say that I'm your skip."

I finished fixing the rest of the coffees. "Good plan. I'll go tell Ric what we're doing."

"Where's your car?"

"Over on the other side of town, why?"

"We'll take my Land Rover over there and switch cars; my 4X4 is too well known – there aren't many of those models in the US. Taking yours is much better cover – I'm sure the cops are used to you driving a different car every week."

"Fair enough, do you think we'll run into Black Hawk while we're down there?" Running into Tank and his crew was not on my list of things to do right now.

Toni frowned. "Not sure, probably not. I've not seem them down there in the past, so I doubt they'll bother. We can check out their control room feed from my truck just in case. Come one, girl, we got shit to do, that crime scene isn't getting any younger."

I rolled my eyes and picked up the mugs. "Fine, I'll be back in a second; let me just check in with Ric.

I set Ric's coffee down in front of him, placed Bobby's next to it and leant my hip against the desk. "Toni and I are off to check this out. Anything you think I need to watch out for in particular?"

Ric sighed heavily and rubbed his hands over his face in a mixture or weariness and frustration. "A killer?"

I popped him on the shoulder with my fist. "Smart ass, you know what I mean. I read those files from cover to cover, but I'm still not clear as to who has the motive. I meant to talk to you about this earlier, but we got distracted; the idea I'd had was to just stake out Stark, watch people coming and going and with a bit of help from you guys we might be able to spot someone who doesn't fit. I can take some surveillance pictures, write down a few plates and then see where we go from there."

He glanced up from his jottings again and smiled what seemed to be his genuine smile; the corner if his mouth lilted up slightly and there appeared to be warmth in his chocolate brown eyes. "Good plan, babe. Just get down there and use that intuition of yours; I'm sure you'll turn up something."

"Oi, come on woman, shift your arse; we haven't got all bloody night!" Toni yelled good naturedly from the doorway.

I turned around and suppressed a laugh. Toni the _hooker_ was wearing a ratty pair of Vans on her feet; they totally ruined the look she was going for.

She snorted. "Do I look like an effing Jersey girl? I can't drive in those damn boots."

"I can drive," I offered.

"In a word, no. And besides, how much have you had to drink tonight, hmm?"

Way too much, though I was sobering up damn fast. "Fine, you drive," I responded grumpily as I took a slug of Ric's coffee, and then headed towards the door, eager to get on with the job.

"Toni," Ric choked out, "Lester know you're going out dressed like that?"

She batted her eyelashes and smiled sweetly. "Darlin' he picked my clothes, said they made me look real pretty; what do you think, big boy?"

Ric coughed and audibly swallowed the mouth full of coffee he was drinking. "Jesus fucking Christ, woman! Go, both of you, leave me in peace. And call if you get anything."

I followed Toni back to the elevator and she laughed all the way.

"Lester really pick your clothes?" I asked tentatively.

"Oh gods, no; if he had then the skirt would be even shorter and the top would be see-through."

* * *

We'd driven across town and switched cars, before crossing back to Stark. Toni had steered into a side street out of view from the cops and parked the Focus next to a dumpster. She swapped footwear, shrugged on a lilac faux fur jacket that looked like it had come from Lula's wardrobe, grabbed her cell and picked up a bumper sticker she'd got from her truck earlier. The sticker read Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done.

"Toni, what is that?"

She hauled herself out of the car and grinned, then stuck the sticker to my rear bumper. "My calling card; if we stick it to your wheels then they won't get boosted."

"Right…"

"Trust me, honey. It tells the locals that this car belongs to me, so they won't touch it."

I smiled. "Worried about Ric coming down here and beating the shit out of them, are they?"

Toni snorted. "No, they'd be worried about me hunting them down and beating the snot out of them; I don't need to hide behind Ric, I can intimidate the bad element well enough all by myself, thank you."

"But you're what, 5' 4"…" I guessed as I looked her up and down."

"And a half, but who's counting?"

I rolled my eyes. "So how did you get to be such a bad ass then?"

She shrugged. "A fuck of a lot of training, a hell of a lot of hard work and many hours in the gym; try it some time, you might just enjoy it."

"Just what are you saying?" I shot back.

Toni shrugged. "You have good instincts, a little training, but if you put your arse in gear and took it up a notch then you'd be even better, that's all I'm saying."

I pondered her suggestions carefully. "So that wasn't an insult then?"

She leant her hip against the side of my car and fished a cigarette out of a half empty packet. "No, when I insult you, you'll know about it."

"Oh." Toni was clearly mad, but I was starting to like her.

"Anyway," she said as she lit her smoke, "We need a game plan. I want to check out the apartment building and maybe you could go chat with your cop buddies, see what you can find out. If anyone asks what you are doing around here then just tell them you are looking for a skip and you'd had a tip off. We'll meet back here in say, half an hour?"

I nodded. "Sure, and I'll call if I get anything you need to know about. I don't think I have your number…"

She held her hand out and I gave her my phone. A couple of seconds later both hers and Manoso's number were stored in my cell. "Half an hour, right?"

Toni nodded. "Yeah, and whatever you do, don't wander too far; this place is a jungle."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, Steph."

I took a deep breath and pocked my cell. "Okay, just try not to get arrested."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," she laughed as she walked away from me, her heels clacking on the dirty alley floor.

Half an hour later and I'd learnt nothing, and had been chastised a dozen times by Trenton's finest for wandering around down on Stark Street at night looking for a skip. The cops didn't seem fazed by another dead hooker, and despite the mounting evidence, no one seemed to be connecting the dots to the other murders so far. I just hoped that Toni had fared better than I had and had got us something to go on.

I spotted her on a street corner not far from where we left the car; she was chatting to a couple of women under one of the functioning street lights. The women looked at me with suspicion as I drew closer and Toni turned around, sending a curt nod in my direction. I hung back about twenty feet away until she had finished her conversation, and then she walked over to me."

"Anything?" she asked as she lit yet another cigarette.

"Nothing. What about you?"

"Pretty much the same, though Tanya saw the dead girl, Hannah, get into a red pick-up earlier on tonight."

"Plate, model?"

Toni shook her head. "Nothing, so I guess we pull a list of red pick-ups registered within say twenty miles of here and see where that leads."

I stopped at the mouth of the alley. "Are you nuts? That's almost pointless."

She gave me a sad smile. "I know, but what else can we do?"

"Guess there aren't any handy security cameras down here then?" I grumbled bitterly. "This sort of thing would never have happened in the Burg; you can't sneeze over there without it making the morning's papers."

"I know Steph, but this is Stark Street, and no one sees anything down here that ain't their business. Mind you that's not a bad idea; it wouldn't hurt to put a couple of cameras in some of the building entry ways, as all of these murders have taken place in the girls' apartments. Yeah, I'll get onto that in the morning."

"What about doing a stake out? Maybe we'll see the truck again."

Toni chewed on her thumb nail and pondered my suggestion. "We could do that too. You could spend a couple of hours down here tomorrow while I fit those cameras if you like."

"I think I'll do that. I want this guy caught, Toni."

"Don't we all, love. Come on let's get back to the batcave. I can sort some hardware out for the morning and you can carry on arguing with both Ric and your moral compass."

"Excuse me?" I shot back, my hands fisted on my hips.

Toni walked towards my car, keys jingling in her hand. "Just stop being such a prude, Plum and fuck him already. You know you want to."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **To everyone who has read, reviewed, nagged, cajoled, emailed etc your support is amazing. Thank you.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Twelve**

_Come on let's get back to the batcave. I can sort some hardware out for the morning and you can carry on arguing with both Ric and your moral compass."_

"_Excuse me?" I shot back, my hands fisted on my hips._

_Toni walked towards my car, keys jingling in her hand. "Just stop being such a prude, Plum and fuck him already. You know you want to."_

I mulled Toni's words over in my head all the way back across town to her SUV. What was stopping me from falling into bed with Ric Manoso? My heart, that was for sure; I really didn't want it ripped out and stomped all over. My head on the other hand was beginning to give in to the constant assault from my hormones. Could I fall into bed with him, have a one night stand?

The more I got to know him, the more time I spent in his company, the more I knew that a one night love affair was not on the cards for Ric; he was playing for keeps. And there I believe was my moral dilemma. I'd never be able to take him home for Sunday dinner at my parents and it would make doing my job nigh on impossible. No one would approve of my choice, and while I felt like I shouldn't have to live my life to the expectations of others, the damage it would do to all quarters of my day to day existence was possibly too much to bear.

Yes, that was why I couldn't get romantically involved with Ric; everything I had worked so hard for would go up in smoke, and no man was worth the sacrifice, right? Unless he became my dirty little secret of course, and our relationship was confined to secret trysts at his warehouse. I could carry on my life and so could he, and we'd meet for mind blowing sex a couple of times a week.

Now that held appeal, but still… how could I consider doing that to him? If I had any respect for him then I would never even ask him to even think about doing that; it was so demeaning towards him.

No, I would hold my hormones in check, stay strong and spend a lot of time alone with my shower massager once I got home.

Toni eased my car to a stop behind hers, grabbed her boots from the back seat and glanced at me. "You want to shift your clothes and stuff into my truck?"

"It would make sense," I concurred.

She slid from the Ford and unlocked the huge trunk door on her Land Rover. "Besides, someone might boost your car and you'd lose everything."

I frowned. "I thought I had the magic anti-theft bumper sticker now and I was immune to such catastrophes?"

"On Stark and Comstock, maybe; around here, who knows? I don't have any influence over on this side of town," she said as she grabbed my laundry basket from the back seat. "Jeez, woman… How long were you planning on being away from your apartment?"

I lugged out a suitcase and a hold all. "A week, maybe a little more."

Toni retrieved a couple of garment bags. "What the hell is this, an outfit in every color for every occasion?"

"We haven't even started on my shoes yet," I joked.

"Where the fuck are we going to put all this crap?" she muttered.

"Spare room?" I suggested.

Toni grinned evilly. "I think it's a tossup between Ric's room or Bobby's."

"No spare room?"

"Nope. Should we swing by the sex shop on the way home and get you a chastity belt, Plum?"

I blushed vermillion. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

"Tell me you didn't spend the entire trip across town trying to work out if you should fall into bed with Ric or not."

I bit my lip.

"Yeah, I thought so," she teased.

I squared my shoulders. "No, I don't need one; I am not going to sleep with Ric."

Toni stopped suddenly, arms precariously full of shoes that looked suspiciously like they were about to make a break for freedom, and frowned at me. "I don't get you, I really don't."

"What?" I asked.

She tossed the shoes in the cavernous boot. "What is so wrong with Ric that you can't put out?"

I loaded the rest of my possessions into her SUV and slammed the door with a touch too much force. "Get in the car; we need to get back to your place."

Toni beeped my car locked. "I'll drive, you spill it, sister. Deal?"

"Fine, but I'm swearing you to secrecy."

"I'm a freaking spy, Steph; secrecy is my middle name."

"Really?"

"No."

* * *

"And there you have the reasons why I can't sleep with Ric," I said as Toni pulled into the warehouse.

"Man, what a fucking mess," she muttered as she parked up and killed the engine. "You sure like to make mountains out of mole hills, luv."

"And you just rolled into bed with Lester without a second thought?"

"Pretty much."

I frowned. "Was it because of work?"

"Was what because of work, Steph?"

"Did you sleep with him because you needed an _in_ with Ric and his crew?"

She shook her head. "Not at all; I'd never used my feminine charms for my job before. Undercover work is difficult at the best of times; add a sexual relationship to the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster…"

"So you slept with him because?" I prompted.

"Because he is damn freaking sexy and a total sweetheart. Still, I never anticipated how things would turn out. A quick tumble between the sheets turned swiftly into more and I knew I'd never leave him…" she paused. "Yeah, never mix business with pleasure unless you are prepared for the consequences."

"Do you regret it, him?"

"No, it was fate, Steph; everything happens for a reason, so I guess you just need to sit back and go with the flow. C'est la vie, Steph, C'est la vie."

"Okay, good advice. Now, you think you can rustle up some hunky guys to give us a hand unloading your car?"

"I certainly can," Toni laughed. "Infact, Ms. Plum, I happen to have a couple on my speed dial."

XOXOXOXO

"So we're no further forward than the perp is possibly driving a red pickup," Ric muttered as he grabbed another beer from the fridge.

Toni squeezed his shoulder. "Sorry Ric."

He rested his elbows on the breakfast bar and put his head in his hands. "Can we work with that, Toni?"

She hopped up on the bar next to him, snagged his beer and took a long pull. "Yeah, but don't expect anything much; it might give us a starting point if we're lucky. I'll set it running before I go to bed; I want to head back to Stark in the morning and put in a few hidden cameras. That could certainly yield better results."

Ric nodded. "Okay, sounds like that's the best plan we have right now."

"It's late and I still have work to do. I'll catch you guys later," Toni said as she slid down again.

Her skirt rode up to expose the tops of her stockings and Ric rolled his eyes. "Go put some clothes on, lady."

Toni laughed as she re-adjusted her skirt, took another swig of Ric's Corona and sauntered away. "Whatever."

"Toni, beer," Ric growled as she got as far as the entry way to the main corridor.

"No thanks, I've already got one, Ric."

He blew out a breath of frustration. "Lester, can't you control your woman?"

Lester peered over the back of the couch at him. "Do I look like I have a death wish?"

"Fine. I'll be in my room making some space in my closet for Steph's clothes. Lester, can you give her a hand hauling her gear out of the Land Rover?"

"Your closet?" I whispered.

Ric shrugged. "Wouldn't want everything to get wrinkled, would we now, babe?"

"I…"

"Can sleep on my couch if you so wish," he finished.

"Couch, yeah… that sounds great," I babbled.

"You know where to find me," he said with a sexy smile, before he turned, flipped his long hair over his shoulder and strode from the room.

I watched his ass as he disappeared from view and bit my lip. That man was sex on a stick and his ass was perfect.

"You want some ice for your hormones?" Lester piped up.

I blushed. "Shut up."

He got up from the sofa to get another beer. "You want one too?"

What the hell. "Sure."

"I've been wanting to talk to you," he said as he popped a wedge of lime into my drink.

Oh crap. "Really?" I managed.

"Yeah," he said as he smiled at me. "I wanted to apologize for last year; I never meant to break your nose, honey."

"It was an act, right?" I muttered as I took my beer from his outstretched hand.

Lester set off towards the elevator. "Pretty much; Ric's got a reputation to uphold, but that does not mean that I enjoy smashing a pretty woman's face into the plaster work."

"Oh," I managed eloquently as I trotted after him.

"So, we friends?" he asked as he ushered me into the lift.

"Seeing as I'm stuck in a confined space with you for the next few seconds, to be shortly followed by crashing around in the dark bowels of this warehouse while you carry my shoe collection, I guess I better say yes to that, Lester."

"Cool," he said with smile as he chinked his bottle against mine.

* * *

Lester pulled open the trunk and gasped as the interior light popped on. "Fuck, that's some shoe collection," he whispered in awe.

I peered around him to look at the myriad of shoes scattered across the back of the boot. "I had to leave most of them at my apartment; that's just the ones that might come in useful."

"I just don't get women," he muttered as he grabbed the suitcase and towed it into the open elevator."

"Hello, you have a girlfriend!" I sang out as I trailed after him with an arm load of shoes.

"Yeah, but she doesn't have a shoe fetish, lady," Lester muttered.

I frowned, "Yeah, but I don't think Toni is normal anyway," I teased. "She can't be if she dates a hooligan like you."

"Hooligan?" he spluttered. "Baby, I'm a pussycat."

"Right…"

He put down my laundry basket. "Look Stephanie… Just don't judge a book by its cover, okay?"

"So you're not some brainless thug then, Lester Santos?"

"Not when I don't have to be; just because I act like a bastard does not mean that I am one. I'm a decent guy, Steph. And so are Bobby and Ric. There are times when I may be a little… when I'm playing the punk from the barrio that I grew up in, and the rest of the time I'm just some regular guy with hopes and fears just like everyone else."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Look Steph, I don't know how much you know of what is going on around here, but just don't take anything at face value."

Interesting. Did Lester actually know about the real setup here? "I'll try," I told him.

He smiled wryly. "Shit, even my girlfriend is a…"

"Is a what?" I pushed.

He shook his head and picked up the laundry basket again. "Forget I said anything."

"You know about her, don't you?" I said to his retreating form.

He deposited the basket with my suitcase and walked back over. "I've always known."

"And your cousin?" I asked.

"Know about him too. I can get why neither of them say anything, but I'm slightly offended. I mean, do they really think Bobby and I are that stupid?"

I smiled. "You don't want me to answer that question, do you?"

Lester snorted. "Not really."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it bother me? I'm just grateful that I'm not doing time for that crap ten years ago. Ric can shuffle around his guns and shit for the government or whoever, and Bobby and me, we'll continue to keep Stark Street in line."

I shook my head. "Just what do you do, really?"

He stuffed his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and looked down at the floor. "Make sure that the girls are okay, got a roof over their heads and that they're not beholden to some scumbag pimp. Try and get those with drug problems into rehab, and make sure that their kids are okay."

I touched him gently on the arm. "That's a very noble thing to do, Lester."

"I saw what happened to Janie, and I knew enough women working the streets back in the day. Some women are always gonna end up doing that sort of shit, but that doesn't mean that they should be stuck like that forever. And that bastard who is killing them, he needs to be stopped."

"Yes he does," I agreed.

* * *

"Are you sure that's everything, babe?" Ric asked in an amused tone as he took in the left side of his closet.

"Is that sarcasm I detect, Ric Manoso?" I accused.

"Not at all," he said with a smirk.

Lester shook his head. "I'm out of here, man. I'll see you both in the morning."

Ric nodded at him and I smiled. "Thanks for your help, Lester."

"De nada," he called out as he shut Ric's apartment door.

And now I was alone in Ric's bedroom and my clothes were in his closet. Shit!

"So," I said as I studied my sneakers.

"So," Ric whispered.

I jerked my head to up find him inches in front of me. "I…"

"Yes?" he asked as he traced my jaw with his finger tips.

Danger, danger, my mind was screaming. My hormones were being whipped into a frenzy by his feather light touch and I was pretty sure my legs were about to give way. I had to do something, anything. I begrudgingly stepped back from him and glanced down at my watch. "Is that the time? You know, it's been a very long day and I think I'll turn in now. Could you show me where you keep your spare bedding so I can make up the couch?"

Ric bit back a smile at my side-stepping. "In the closet. I'll be in the bathroom if you need anything…"

He walked away and I took the opportunity to ogle his ass once more. Blankets, damn it! I chastised myself. I found spare bedding in his side of the closet, along with his large collection of black clothing. There was a lot of silk and leather in there, and I took the liberty to run my hands over the soft fabrics. Speaking of soft fabrics, I tugged out a neatly folded cotton sheet with a thread count of around a million, and a large velvet throw that would make a good substitute for a quilt, and wandered back into the living area.

I fixed the couch, grabbed my toiletries bag and then poked around in the closet for something to wear to bed. Thankfully I'd left my entire collection of sexy negligee back at my apartment, but that did not make the choice any less difficult. T-shirt and yoga pants? Tank top and boy shorts? Floor length flannel nightgown like my mother would wear?

Yeah, the unflattering nightgown was sounding good right now; shame I didn't own one. After a lot of deliberation I finally settled on the tank top and panties; the t-shirt and yoga pants seemed a little OTT and I didn't want Ric to think I was affected by him. I gathered my selection up with my toiletries and hovered around by the bathroom door waiting for Ric to finish up in there.

A couple of minutes later the door clicked open and I came face to face with him. He was wearing nothing except his leathers, and the front lacing had been left unfastened. The dark dusting of hair that started just below his belly button trailed down into his pants and I realized that he was commando.

I looked up into his warm chocolate eyes and blushed. I was so busted.

"See something you like, babe?"

"An empty bathroom," I managed to squeak out as I hurried past him and slammed the door shut.

I was in serious trouble here. I wanted to peel his leathers off and run my hands all over his stunning body. I wanted him to scoop me up in his strong arms and toss me on the bed and ruin me for all other men. I was totally and utterly fucked; there was no way I could resist him.

I went about my nightly routine as swiftly as possible. I had to stay strong; I had to go out there and walk right past him, bid him good night and hide under that throw until I fell asleep. Right, I could do that.

I gathered up my dirty clothes, tried not to look at my toothbrush as it sat next to his in the holder, and went back into Ric's bedroom.

He was lounging up against the armoire and still in nothing but his leathers. "You all sorted?" he asked as he walked across the room to me.

I nodded, simply because I didn't think I was capable of forming a sentence right now.

"You don't have to sleep on the couch, you know, babe," he whispered.

"You offering to sleep there instead?" I asked cheekily.

"No," he said as he stepped closer and took the bundle of clothes from my hands and tossed them in the laundry hamper next to me.

"I should…"

"Kiss me?" he murmured.

I looked up and opened my mouth to tell him to go to hell and the strangest of things happened. I kissed him.

I'm not sure who was more shocked, Ric or me. It seemed to take us both by surprise, but he recovered quickly and kissed me back.

I tangled my hands in his long hair and moaned as he pressed his body up against mine. He placed one hand at the back of my head and the other he splayed across my ribs and then walked us backwards a couple of paces until I was up against the wall. The kiss became more urgent, more passionate and I saw stars when he slid his leather clad leg between my thighs. I pressed myself hard against him and he sucked my tongue into his mouth. Boy could he kiss. I let myself be swept away by the sensations he was causing and hoped this moment would never end.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **I would like to thank each and every one of you for all the amazing reviews; I appreciate each and every one. They really make my day, ladies! I'm sorry if I didn't reply to you all personally, but my life is very busy and I often struggle to find the time to write these days. Well, here it it, what I think most of you have been holding out for - I just hope that it lives up to your wild and wicked imaginations. Please do let me know how I did. Enjoy.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Fourteen**

_I tangled my hands in his long hair and moaned as he pressed his body up against mine. He placed one hand at the back of my head and the other he splayed across my ribs and then walked us backwards a couple of paces until I was up against the wall. The kiss became more urgent, more passionate and I saw stars when he slid his leather clad leg between my thighs. I pressed myself hard against him and he sucked my tongue into his mouth. Boy could he kiss. I let myself be swept away by the sensations he was causing and hoped this moment would never end._

Ric's hand on my ribs drifted lower and slowly snaked under my tank top. His fingers danced over my skin and I felt the molten heat between my legs increase ten-fold. I let out a low moan, and he broke the kiss and turned his attention to my neck, where he nipped gently at the skin above my collar bone.

I used my grip on his hair to anchor his head in place and shamelessly ground myself down on his thigh. I could feel the oncoming orgasm hurtle towards me at an ever quickening pace, just a little bit more pressure and…

Ric pinched my nipple roughly between his calloused thumb and finger and a jolt of electricity shot straight down my spine. Unfortunately it also hit my brain and all my earlier doubts and fears shot to the fore. This was a bad idea.

"Stop," I managed to gasp as I moved my hands to his shoulders and pushed slightly.

Ric pulled back and his deep chocolate eyes studied my face. "Stop?"

I nodded.

His hand ceased its ministrations beneath my top and he frowned. "What's wrong?"

I bowed my head to avoid his gaze. "I can't do this."

"But-"

I shoved Ric off me and I also ignored my libido's very loud protests. "This is such a bad idea; I'm sorry, I should never have kissed you."

He backed up a few paces. "I don't understand, Stephanie."

I crossed my arms over my chest in a bid to cover my traitorous nipples. "We can't do this. You and me… Look Ric, there's no easy way for me to say this, but like I said earlier I'm not a one night stand kinda girl and I can't… we can't be together."

Ric just stood there, his handsome face now bereft of emotion. He nodded once, "I see."

I bit my lip, jammed my hands in my armpits, and hugged my crossed arms tight to my chest. "I can't take you home to meet my parents, I can't date you and expect to have any standing with the local P.D or Black Hawk and I don't expect you to change who you are. Don't you see that this won't work?"

"You're ashamed of me."

"No! It's not like that, Ric."

He shook his head and backed up a couple of steps. "Guess I'm not good enough for some prim little white girl, huh?"

"You're skin color has nothing to do with this; don't turn this into something it isn't, Ric," I retorted.

"Right…"

"I can't take you home because you're a…"

"Because I'm a what, Stephanie?" he growled dangerously.

"Because you're a criminal," I whispered.

"Never figured that you'd care so much about what other people thought about what you do," he muttered.

I ran a hand though my curls in frustration. "I have to rely on a lot of good will from both the police and Black Hawk in order to do my job; dating a criminal would seriously harm my standing and reputation, don't you see that?"

Ric snorted. "Yeah babe, I'm just not good enough for ya."

"Chirst," I muttered. This was so much harder than I expected it to be. I picked my next words carefully. "I'm beginning to like you Ric, and I find you as hot as hell, but that's not enough for me. I don't want to hurt myself and more importantly, I don't want to hurt you."

He turned away from me, shoulders slumped slightly. "Yeah, 'cos that's all women ever fucking do to me, hurt me. Rip my damn heart out and stomp all over it. I wasn't good enough for Janie and I'm sure not as hell good enough for you. I'm going to bed; turn the light out on your way to the couch."

I crossed the room and touched him gently on the shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"And so am I," he whispered as he turned his back to me.

I left my hand drop away and wondered what to do. Should I stay or just leave him be? Ric seemed in no mood to talk further, so I quietly left the room, and shut the light off on my way out.

It had been a very long day and the emotional turmoil of the last few minutes had just about worn out the last of my reserves. The couch was calling to me and I slid under the soft throw, put my head down on the pillow, closed my tired eyes and lay there in the dark. The conversation with Ric churned around my head and I knew that despite my exhausted state, I was going to be awake for hours.

I rolled over, beat the pillow into submission a dozen times, rolled over again, buried my head under said pillow and then let out a groan. I couldn't leave things like that between us; it just wasn't fair on Ric.

With a heavy sigh I climbed off the couch and got a glass of water from the kitchen, after narrowly vetoing another beer. More alcohol was a bad idea, and I doubted that Ric had cocoa in the apartment. A small smile tugged at my lips as I imagined career criminal Ric Manoso sitting down with a nice mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows after a hard day's work. That was just so not going to happen.

I set the empty glass in the sink, then ran the faucet again and splashed the chilly water over my face in the hope that it would clear my head. I had to talk to him, to fix the mess I'd made. Ric thought I had no respect for him, and we had to work together. If it wasn't for my own damn hang-ups we'd be in his bedroom right now having hot sweaty sex.

The mere thought of what could happen with that sexy man in the room next door sent my hormones into overdrive again and I splashed another handful of water in my face. Nope, not working. Shit, get a grip, I bitched to myself.

I shut off the faucet, squared my shoulders and marched over to his double bedroom doors. And then I stood there like an idiot, my hand on the knob for a while. Why couldn't I just open the damn door and talk to him? I pressed my forehead against the wood and sighed.

He was probably asleep anyway, right? I mean I could check, and if he was asleep then our talk would have to wait until morning and maybe then I'd be able to sleep better knowing that there was nothing I could do about it tonight. Right… that sort of made sense, I think.

I grasped the handle, twisted slowly and eased the door open a fraction. The room seemed silent, but I couldn't see Ric from where I was standing; guess I'd just have to go into his room a little more.

The light from the sitting room cast my shadow across the bedroom carpet and the bottom of his bed and I could make out Ric on the far side, with his back to me. I wondered what he was wearing under those black satin sheets. His long hair drifted across his pillow and the smooth expanse of his back was visible in the low light as the sheet had slipped down to his waist.

I stood there and stared at him, watching him sleep. I was pretty sure he was asleep anyway, as I'd have expected him to roll over and tell me to go to hell or something by now. He was beautiful and I wanted nothing more right now than to crawl under those sumptuous sheets and wrap myself around him. Sure I wanted to have sex with him, despite all my internal arguments as he was a damn fine looking male, but more than that I just wanted to lie in his arms and feel warm and safe.

Ric rolled over and I let out a squeak.

"You gonna stand there all night, babe?" he whispered huskily.

"I…"

"Well?"

I took a deep breath. "I couldn't sleep; I wanted to say that I was sorry."

He sat up and I bit back a moan as the sheet pooled dangerously low around his hips.

"You're sorry?" he asked as he pushed his hair out of his face and settled back against the headboard.

I nodded. "For what it's worth, yes. I'm sorry that I can't seem to pull that stick out of my ass and give in to my stupid emotions. I want you so damn much that it hurts and…"

Dark eyes studied me intently. "And now you're gonna stand in my doorway all night and keep me awake?"

I blushed. "No, I just… I wanted to say that I was sorry and that I never meant to hurt you. Good night Ric."

I was half way out of the door when he spoke again. "Don't go," he whispered.

I paused, scrunched my eyes shut and bit my lip. I should walk away; I should go back to the couch. I should do an awful lot of things that are supposed to be right, but I wanted so badly what was wrong for me right now. I turned around to look at him. "You want me to stay?"

He nodded. "Please babe. Even if I just get to hold you; I can't sleep knowing that you're in the room next to me. I want to…"

I stepped closer to the bed, suddenly feeling very brazen. "What do you want, Ricardo?"

He slid from the bed and my earlier question of what Ricardo Manoso wore to bed was answered fully. Nothing. My god, he was huge and hard and I had never wanted a man so much in my life than at this moment. "What do you want?" I asked again huskily.

Ric stopped at the bottom of the bed. "You, in my bed."

I smiled. "That's all?"

He stalked across the room to stand in front of me, our bodies just not quite touching and I could feel the heat radiating off his ripped body. "It's a start," he said with a wolf grin as he brushed his fingers down my arm.

Tingles shot down my arm where his fingers touched my skin and I moaned. I wanted this, I needed this and I didn't care about anything else anymore. To hell with the consequences.

"Come to bed with me, Stephanie Plum," he whispered into my ear.

My heart rate sped up and adrenalin shot through my system. "I believe that I still owe you a few hours of my undivided attention," I purred.

Ric slipped his calloused had in mine and led me towards his bed. "You sure about this?" he asked hesitantly.

I nodded. "Yes, I am now."

"So," he said as he slid his hands under my tank top. "Any ground rules, or does anything go?"

I studied him carefully in the dim light and brushed his hair back from his face. "Anything goes, but I expect you to use a condom, and definitely no butt stuff."

He raised an eyebrow. "Ever tried it?"

I nodded once and could feel the heat rise in my cheeks as I recalled the time my ex-husband had tried unsuccessfully to thrust his cock into somewhere I was unaccustomed to it being. It had hurt like hell and after a few minutes of my ardent protests he'd finally got the message and given up. No, not a particularly happy memory by any stretch of the imagination.

Ric's fingers rubbed soothingly across my ribs. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"Bad experience with an ex. I'm sure if he'd actually given a damn about my feelings then it might have been better, but I just don't want to go there right now, if you get what I mean."

He dropped a kiss on my cheek. "Fair enough, I can respect that.

"What about you, does anything go?" I asked, though I suspected that my sex life probably paled in comparison to his.

"Anything goes," he murmured as his fingers brushed the underside of my breasts.

"Are we done negotiating now?" I teased as I stepped back and slid my tank top off.

"Yeah babe, we've done negotiating now," he grinned as he reached for my waist and pulled me flush against him.

I threaded my fingers in his hair and pulled him down for a kiss. It was as sinful as the one I'd had earlier and I slid my hands around to cup his rock hard ass and scratched my nails lightly across his skin.

Ric groaned and in one swift motion he picked me up and tossed me backwards onto his bed. I slid across the satin sheets and came to rest in the centre of the king sized mattress. He flipped on the bedside light, crawled gracefully over to me, like some sort of large and deadly predator and I gasped as he ripped my soaked panties off in one fluid motion, and then settled his warm body over mine.

His thick cock nestled against my core and I shamelessly moved against him, trying to get him closer to _that_ spot. "Kiss me," I whispered.

Strands of his silky hair drifted over my face as he put his lips on mine. The kiss was electric, magic, passionate and just a hint of things to come. I let my fingers drift though his dark locks and down over his shoulders, up his ribs and finally I let them ghost over his nipples. Ric let out a low moan and bit down on my lip. I gasped in response and bucked my hips against him.

"So responsive," he murmured as he kissed his way down my neck. His hair trailed across my fevered skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake, and I gasped when Ric took my nipple in his mouth and bit down gently. "Please," I found myself saying.

Dark eyes looked up at me. "Please what, babe?"

I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted him inside me so much it hurt. "Fuck me."

"As you wish; turn over."

My heart shot into my throat. "I said no-"

He cut me off. "I heard, and I wasn't going to. Do you trust me?"

I nodded.

"Good girl," he breathed as he dropped a kiss on my over sensitized nipple and backed off of me. "On your knees, hands on the head board."

I lay still beneath him, unsure of myself and maybe Ric as well. What was wrong with doing this face to face in the dark?

He studied me intently for a few beats. "What's wrong, babe?"

I squirmed and looked away; so not going there.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Yes," I rasped out, my throat suddenly dry. "It's just…"

"Just what?"

I blew out a breath and shook my head. "Nothing."

Ric let out a bark of laughter. "What, you want to do it missionary style with the lights out or something, chica?"

Could he read my mind?

"We're going to do this and it's going to be good; turn around for me babe, hands on the headboard," he coaxed.

I took a deep breath and rolled onto my stomach, then crawled my way up the bed. Ric's fingers teased my skin as I moved and when I was finally upright, where he wanted me to be, his warm hands settled on my hips.

"Scared?" he whispered in my ear as he pulled himself flush against me, the shaft of his thick cock pressed against my ass.

"No," I gasped out as he bit gently down on my neck.

"Good," he murmured as he pulled away momentarily.

I shivered at the loss of contact, and then jumped slightly when something rough scraped up my side. I glanced down and watched as Ric ran the condom packet over my ribs, across the underside of my breast and then flicked it against my nipple. "Hey," I laughed.

"Didn't want you to think I'd forgotten, Stephanie. Last chance to walk away, babe."

I shook my head. "No, please… I want you."

There was a ripping noise and the empty packet landed on the black sheet with a rustle. "I'm so glad you said that," he laughed as he kissed my neck again. "Now you hold on doll, and enjoy the ride."

Ric's hands roamed over my body, exploring, teasing and sending my higher. I writhed against him and cursed his name. The bastard was going to wring an orgasm out of me without even touching the wetness between my legs. "Ric, please," I moaned shamelessly.

"Please what?"

"Touch me!"

He laughed, "I am, babe."

"No!" I wailed, "Touch me there."

"Here?" he asked as he palmed my breasts and squeezed my nipples roughly.

"No!"

"Here?" he asked again as he ran his fingers up the inside of my legs, and stopped short of the promised land.

"You bastard," I gritted out as my body flushed and greedily soaked up his burning touch.

"What about here?" he growled as he slid his calloused fingers over my clit. An orgasm shot up my body from my toes, tore a scream from my throat and sent me flying backwards against his strong body.

"Mmmmm, did I guess right that time?" he chuckled.

I blinked the stars away and managed a groan in response.

"Shall we try that again?" Ric teased as he slid two fingers inside my dripping pussy.

God he was good, no he was amazing. I arched against him, his cock rubbing against my ass and he began to tease another orgasm from my body with his talented fingers. I was flying, soaring higher and higher and then in one graceful motion, Ric slid his cock into my pussy right to the hilt, and bit down hard on my shoulder.

I yelled his name as the mother of doomsday orgasms slammed into me. Ric thrust hard and fast, and the orgasm spiraled on and on, growing ever more intense. With one final powerful jerk of his hips, his own orgasm shook him and he gasped my name as he hugged me to him.

The stars burst in the heavens, the world tilted on its axis, his arms tightened around me like steel bands and I passed out.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Thanks for all the messages and reviews for this story. Yeah, I've finally got my muse in gear again. She seems to have more fun writing about other characters these days, so I'm dreadfully sorry that you've all had to suffer from Dark Knight withdrawal.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Fifteen**

_The stars burst in the heavens, the world tilted on its axis, his arms tightened around me like steel bands and I passed out._

* * *

The smell of coffee pulled my sore body from sleep, and I slowly eased my eyes open to find Ric setting a couple of mugs down on the nightstand. He slid back into bed and offered me a cup.

I sat up gingerly, mindful of the aches in my limbs, and other more interesting places, before accepting the heavenly brew. "You are a god," I whispered as I took a sip of the heavily creamed and sugared caffeine fix.

He smirked. "I know, you told me enough times last night."

"Smartass," I muttered as I smacked him on the arm, "That's not what I meant."

Ric raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"You are so incorrigible."

He shrugged. "If the shoe fits…"

I shook my head and sipped some more of my coffee. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Toni and the boys are off back to Stark; she needs to fit some cameras and they need to carry on as normal – check in with our girls, contacts and stuff. Me, I'm gonna do a bit of intel gathering from here and then maybe swing by my offices later to remind the neighborhood that I exist. You want to hang out with Toni, see if you can get any information?"

"Sure. I need to check in with the office first and find out if I have any skips."

Ric frowned. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"I asked Connie to text me if anything came in, and don't worry, we've set up a code so if Black Hawk are monitoring her cell then they won't suspect a thing."

"They can trace your cell, you know."

I took a sip of coffee. "I know, that's why it's not switched on."

"I'll get Toni to set you up with a new one and forward all calls to it from your old one just to be on the safe side."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Is that really necessary?

Ric shrugged. "So I'm a touch paranoid in my line of work. Would it help if I said please?"

"Okay, if it will make you feel any better. I thought I was being sneaky enough by switching my cell off; I never thought to forward my calls to another one."

"You were sneaky, but not quite sneaky enough for my liking, babe. I know Tank, and if you've pissed him off, then he's going to be looking for you, and he's not going to give up until he finds you. The last thing we need right now is him sticking his nose in to our business," he replied as he took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles.

"Okay, so… what do you have that passes for breakfast around here?" I quizzed innocently.

Ric set his mug down on the night stand. "I have just the thing to set you up for the day, babe."

* * *

Toni parked the truck outside the rundown building on Stark where my trip down the rabbit hole had begun all those months ago. The guys climbed out of the F-450 and headed off to their run down headquarters. She waited until they were both safely inside and then drove us another couple of blocks down the road to an apartment building close to the one at the centre of last night's murder.

"Do you want to help me, or are you going snooping?" she asked as she put the vehicle in park.

"What are you doing exactly?" I asked.

Toni reached over to the back seat and pulled out a metal briefcase. "Fitting small cameras inside the smoke detectors in the entrance lobbies of the half a dozen buildings we have here. It shouldn't take me more than half an hour and then I can tag along with you if you like."

"I can hold the step ladder, but I think I'll leave the James Bond stuff to you," I laughed.

She nodded, "Sure, and then that way I can assist you in your enquiries when we're done. There is still a small element of scum around here and they're more likely to leave you alone if you've got a shadow. And you can spill the beans on what's going on with you and Ric too."

I couldn't stop the blush that crept across my face, but I still opted for the tactics of deny and evade. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Right… You're a shit liar, you know that?" Toni teased.

"Fine, okay, so we had sex, but that's all I'm going to say on the matter," I responded as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Whoa! Chill a little, love," she said as she put her hand on my arm. "I'm only winding you up; it's damn bloody obvious that the two of you did the deed. Shit, you're glowing so much that I bet that NASA could pick you up on one of their satellites."

I flipped down the passenger-side sun visor and peered into the small mirror. "It's that bad?"

"He does tend to have that effect on women, not that there is that many of them, I hasten to add, but yeah, Ric seems to be a bit of a god between the sheets."

"Yeah, I think you got that about right," I murmured.

"Come on, let's get this job under way," Toni said as she slid from the truck. "The sooner we get done, the sooner we can go and see what intel we can turn up."

Over an hour later we were still busy. I dutifully held the stepladder for Toni as she fitted the last of the tiny cameras inside another smoke detector.

"And you're sure that these things work," I said again. They were so small that I was convinced that any images they did capture would be nigh on useless.

Toni looked down at me. "Sweetheart, I'm a trained spy, I think I know what I'm doing."

"Sorry," I muttered. "They're just so tiny."

"That's the whole point, Steph; technology is advancing at an alarming rate so I no longer need to use anything obvious. Hell, even this sort of stuff has gotten more refined in just the last few years. Right, this should be good to go," she said as she pulled out her cell and called up the mother ship to verify the camera's connection to their system.

The conversation she had with Ric was like the other seven – short and to the point. I watched with ever growing boredom as she fiddled with the camera some more while talking to him, and when they both seemed satisfied, she hung up.

"We done now?" I quizzed. I was itching to hit the streets and talk to people.

Her cell rang again. "Hold that thought."

I shook my head and began putting the scattered equipment back into the case in an effort to expedite our exit.

"Where are you?" Toni said into the phone. "We'll be over in a few."

I tried to raise an eyebrow, but gave up and settled for raising both of them instead.

"That was Lester; one of his girls has some information from us," she told me.

* * *

"Steph, this is Kayleigh," Lester said as I stepped into the tiny apartment.

The young woman in front of me was in her early twenties, had lank blonde hair, sunken features, and was clad in a ratty robe and tired looking fluffy slippers. She offered me a tight smile as she eyed me with suspicion.

I held out my hand. "Thanks for talking to us today, Kayleigh."

She shrugged and shuffled over to the couch, before she sank down on the shabby cushions and lit a cigarette. "I'm only talking to you 'cos it ain't right what's goin' on down here, you know."

I moved to stand in front of her, and then perched cautiously on the edge of the cluttered coffee table. "I understand. So, can you tell me what you saw last night?"

Kayleigh took a long drag on her cig and frowned. "She got into a flatbed pickup around nine P.M. last night."

"Do you remember the model or the color, or anything strange about it?" I pressed.

"Maroon, red maybe. Don't know about the model, but it was a big fucking thing, you know with them bull bars at the front, and lots of spot lights. It didn't look like the guy used it on the building site or anything, as it was in too good a condition."

I nodded, "I know what you mean. Can you remember anything else about it?"

"It had," she said as she reached past me and picked up the ash tray, "a vanity plate, but I don't remember what it was, I'm sorry."

"That's great, Kayleigh," I assured her as I patted her awkwardly on the knee. "What about the driver, did you see him?"

She shook her head. "No, the truck had tinted windows and Hannah was just down the block from me in her usual spot, so when he wound the window down her ass was in the way. You might want to try Tameka; she was working the same corner as her."

I looked to Lester and Bobby, who were hovering by the door. "Tameka, do you know her?"

Lester nodded. "Yeah, but I doubt we'll get much out of her; she's usually as high as a fucking kite."

"We can try anyway," Toni chipped in from her spot by the window.

I stood up and held out my hand to Kayleigh. "Thank you for your help. If you think of anything else then please get in touch with the guys here and they can pass information on to me."

Kayleigh stubbed out her cigarette and lit another one, then shook my hand half-heartedly. "Sure, I'll give them a call, but I told you everything."

The sound of someone banging on her door made us all jump, and Lester, Bobby and Toni had their hands on their guns.

"You expecting anyone?" Bobby asked in a whisper.

Kayleigh shook her head.

The guys exchanged looks and Toni stepped up to her. "Ask who it is, love."

"Who is it?" Kayleigh called out.

"Trenton P.D, ma'am. We'd like to have a quick word with you about last night's incident."

"Now ain't a good time," she replied anxiously.

"Too fucking right," Lester muttered.

"I really do need to speak to you, Ms. Shaw," the voice stated in that no nonsense tone that cops use.

"Bloody hell," Toni gritted out as she glanced out of the windows. "We'd have to pick an apartment with no fire escape to climb down."

"We could hide," I suggested.

She shook her head. "Not a good idea. These buildings have flat roofs, right Les?"

Lester eyed her warily. "Yeah, what are you thinking?"

Toni slid the sash up and stuck her head out of the lounge window. "Drainpipe. Up and onto the roof, and then down the fire escape, cut across a couple of alleys and leg it to the truck."

The officer banged on the door again. "Ms. Shaw! Open the door please."

I shook my head adamantly. "There is no way on this earth that I'm getting out of a fourth floor window and climbing up a drainpipe!"

Toni rolled her eyes. "Fine, stay here then."

Bobby climbed out onto the window ledge and tugged on the drainpipe. "Looks solid."

"Go for it," Lester urged.

Bobby nodded and vanished from sight and Lester stuck his head out of the window. When he seemed satisfied that his friend was not about to fall to his death, he too made his escape.

"You sure you're not coming?" Toni asked me.

I nodded. "I'll just say I was looking for information on a skip, right Kayleigh."

"Sure, whatever," she responded.

"Okay, I'll park up in the alley behind the pawnshop about half a mile away. Meet us there when you can," Toni stated as she slipped out of the window and disappeared.

The banging started up again. "Ms. Shaw!"

"I should answer that," Kayleigh said.

"Go ahead," I replied as I shut the window.

She tumbled the locks and pulled the door open an inch. "Gonna need to see some I.D."

Two badges appeared in the gap, she nodded and slid the chain off and opened the door.

The plain clothes detectives stepped into the room and glanced around. I did my best to look nonchalant and picked at my nails, but in the end, I just couldn't help myself. "Office Morelli, what a surprise."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Thanks for all your reviews, they feed the muse. If I didn't reply to you personally then I'm sorry; RL has been hectic.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Sixteen**

_The plain clothes detectives stepped into the room and glanced around. I did my best to look nonchalant and picked at my nails, but in the end, I just couldn't help myself. "Office Morelli, what a surprise."_

Joe Morelli folded his arms across his chest and frowned. "I didn't expect to see you here, cupcake."

I shrugged and edged towards the exit. "Just talking to Kayleigh about a few things, Joe. Well, I have to be going; I'll see you around."

He shot me his cop glare. "I don't think so. You want to tell me what you're really doing here?"

"I already told you, Joe. Look, you and me both have to talk to different people in order to gather information in relation to our job. Anyway, I don't want to get in your way while you're conducting police business, so I'll be off," I said as I took another step towards the door.

"Who are you looking for?" he pressed.

"No one in particular, but you never know who's going to be in the next file, so I find it helpful to keep myself abreast of the current developments. Can I go now?"

Joe moved towards me and cut off my retreat. "Didn't see your car outside."

Shit. "No? It's out front, but I'm sure you just didn't recognize it; you know how I change cars every week."

"Steph, there were no cars parked out front."

Oh fuck. What the hell was I supposed to say to that? My current car, a Ford Focus, was back across town about four blocks from my apartment building in the lot of a strip mall. I'd first left it there when I went to skulk in the bushes to wait for Manoso, and then Toni and I had decided to leave it there again last night. We'd figured, okay, she'd figured, that if I left it in my lot then it might attract the attention of Black Hawk, and she didn't want to run the risk of them fitting a tracking devise to it. I was certainly in a tight spot and running out of things to say to Joe. "What do you mean it's not there?"

Joe let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "Well if it's not there then I suspect that someone's stolen it."

I did my best to look frustrated and slightly pissed. "I don't believe it! What is it with me and damn cars?"

"You shouldn't even be down here by yourself, Stephanie; nothing is safe on Stark Street. Give me the plate and I'll call it in."

Can't I catch a break? "It's, err… I think it was red, and I'm sure it was a Ford, but you know how it is; they never last long enough and I've only just gotten this one." I offered weakly in a pathetic attempt to salvage this mess.

His partner, an older guy I didn't recognize, sniggered. "Lady, we're not going to be long talking to Ms. Shaw. Why don't you just give us five minutes and then we'll give you a ride; can't have you walking around this neighborhood by yourself."

"No!" I said a little too forcefully.

Both men looked at me suspiciously.

"I'll call my dad, it's no big deal," I said quickly. "I don't want to cause you any trouble.

Morelli snorted. "Cupcake, where you go, trouble is never far behind."

I scowled at him. "That's not fair, and you know it."

He didn't even bother to answer, just raised an eyebrow at me.

"Fine!" I spat out, "I'll go call my dad and-"

Joe grabbed a hold of my arm and steered me towards the vacant end of the couch. "Just stay here until we've finished talking to Kayleigh and then we'll deal with your missing car."

I sank down on the threadbare cushions and wondered how the hell I was going to get out of this mess.

The other officer then set about asking Kayleigh about last night. She offered up that she'd seen the pickup, but didn't mention the vanity plate; guess she didn't trust the cops. It seemed that she had more faith in me and Ric's men than she did in the police. I didn't blame her as most inhabitants of this area were often on the wrong side of the law, and that the police seemed to care very little about them too.

I figured that they'd pretty much exhausted the topic of the murder, but then Joe threw in a curve ball. "Do you know Ricardo Manoso?"

Kayleigh shifted uncomfortably. "I heard the name, but I don't know him."

"You know the guys he associates with?" the other cop asked.

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

Joe frowned. "So you wouldn't know where to find Manoso then?"

"Why should I know?" she asked defensively.

I had to hand it to the girl; she was certainly not going to betray anyone on Stark Street to the detectives.

Joe held his hands out, palms up, and shrugged. "Sorry, I thought everyone around here knew him; forgive my mistake."

Kayleigh lit up another cigarette. "I don't know him."

"Fair enough, but if you did say, maybe happen to run into him, then could you tell him that we'd like to speak to him with regards to his whereabouts last night," Joe replied smoothly.

I frowned. Why did they want to talk to Ric? He was nowhere near Stark Street last night.

"You got something you want to add, Stephanie?" Joe asked.

I shook my head. "Just thinking about Manoso; I've heard a lot of nasty things about him."

"You want to steer clear of that scum, cupcake; the guy's bad news."

I decided to push for a little more information. "You think he killed those women?"

"Well someone certainly saw him down here last night," Joe's partner said with a scowl. "Man like that, who knows what he's capable of; piece of trash, I certainly wouldn't put this past him.

Why would someone say that Ric was here last night? It just didn't make any sense; smelled like a set up to me. I faked a shudder. "Well, I hope that I don't run into him, that's for sure."

"I think we're done here," Joe stated as he motioned for me to get up. "Ms. Shaw, thank you for your time; you've been most helpful."

The other detective handed her his card. "Please give us a call if you think of anything else, or see Manoso around."

"Whatever," Kayleigh muttered.

"Don't get up, we'll see ourselves out," Joe said as he ushered me out of the door.

We were halfway down the stairs when Joe spoke again. "Oh, I ran into Tank this morning at the station. Did you know that he's looking for you?"

"Nope," I lied. Shit, could this day get any damn worse? "I'll drop by the office later."

"I can run you over there once you've made your statement if you like," he offered.

I had to get out of this cluster fuck. "Tell you what, why don't you just drop me at the bonds office on your way across town. I've got a lot of work to do and I can make my statement later; I guess my car's not going anywhere and you can file a preliminary report without me."

Joe paused on the landing and turned around to look up at me. "You okay, cupcake? You seem a little distracted, and you don't appear to be too concerned about the loss of your car either."

"How many cars have I gone through, Joe? I don't get attached to them anymore, and I guess that I have better things to do than expend energy on mourning the loss of another vehicle."

He studied me intently and I did my best not to squirm under his questioning gaze. "Manoso's a dangerous criminal, Steph. You wouldn't be thinking about looking for him would you?"

Ha! Like I even need to go looking for Ric Manoso; I knew where he lived, what color his toothbrush was and what he wore under his leathers. Okay, now is not the time to be daydreaming about his package. Focus here, Steph! "Trust me, I am not going to go trolling Stark Street for Ric Manoso."

"You sure?" he quizzed.

I had actually told the truth, and I managed to respond without a shred of guilt. "Sure. Why would I waste my time looking for him when I have bills to pay and actual skips to hunt down?"

Morelli nodded, "Okay, so you want me to drop you at the office?"

Not really, but what else could I do? Then again, maybe I could still salvage this. "I just remembered that I need to follow up on a couple of leads down the block. I'll call Tank and get him to drop me a vehicle off and lend some muscle for my next round of door knocking."

"I'll wait with you until he turns up."

Fuck! "It's alright Joe, you don't have to do that. I'll go and talk to Kayleigh a bit more; I'm sure she has a couple of snippets of information for me, and it's not like she was going to talk with you and your partner in the room – no offense."

"Are you sure? I don't like the thought of leaving you down here all by yourself."

"Shoo!" I said as I gestured at him with my hands. "We both have work to do."

"You armed?"

"Gun, stun gun, cuffs, nail file…"

"Is the gun loaded, cupcake?"

"Probably," I responded with a grin.

He held out his hand. "Let me check."

Why didn't I just say yes? Stupid Stephanie! I rummaged around in my pocket book and my fingers closed around the butt of a gun – not my gun. Slowly, as if it might bite, I extracted a 9mm Sig Saur and passed it to him.

Joe popped the clip and nodded "Makes a change you carrying; from what I've heard it lived in your cookie jar."

"What can I say, I take my job seriously these days."

"What happened to your S&W?"

I honestly had no flipping idea what had happened to my gun, or which criminal I was newly acquainted with had swapped out the S&W for the Sig; my money was on either Ric or Toni.

"Zip, you know, one of Tank's men suggested that I try this for size. I've been using it down at the Black Hawk range for the last month or so, and I quite like it," I lied smoothly.

Joe seemed to accept my little fib, ignored my little misdemeanor of carrying concealed, and handed me the gun back butt first. I shoved it into my bag and smiled. "Well, it's been nice to see you again; Pino's and a game at some point?"

"Sure, soon. I'll see you around, cupcake, and don't take too long to file that report."

"No worries, Joe." I replied as I turned tail and dashed back up the stairs to Kayleigh's apartment.

She slid the door open as soon as I got to her landing. "Toni's been calling me!"

"Shhh," I admonished as I slammed the door shut behind me and threw the locks. "What did she want?"

"Wants to know when was going on and when you're gonna be meeting up with them."

I pulled out my new cell from my bag; it was set to silent and I had three missed calls. Crap.

I dialed Toni and she picked up on the first ring. "What the bloody hell are you doing, Plum?"

"Trying to ditch Morelli," I hissed.

"Well try faster, damn it! This end of Stark is crawling with cops."

"They're looking for Ric," I said. "Someone apparently saw him down here last night."

"Fuck! What the hell is going on? I've just had three calls from other girls telling me that they're looking for Lester and Bobby too. I can't stay here for much longer; we need to get back to the warehouse and go to ground."

"Well as soon as Officer Morelli and his partner fuck off then I'll get to you," I retorted angrily.

"No, I don't think we can wait that long; it's gonna take you ten minutes to get down here and I feel like a sitting duck. Could you find the warehouse by yourself?"

I frowned. "I'm not sure."

"Sod that, that's a fuckin' dumb arse idea anyway; can't have you picking up a tail. Okay, wait for the cops to clear out, cut through the back alleys until you come out on Comstock and go to Jimmy's, the bar on the corner with Patterson. Ask at the bar for Jimmy, tell him I sent you, and ask him to take you over to Light Bites deli on the outskirts of the warehouse district. One of us will meet you there and bring you back to the warehouse. Got all that, Plum?"

"Comstock, Jimmy, Light Bites, wait for you guys, yup, ten four kemo sabe."

Toni sighed and then hung up.

I slid my cell away and turned back to Kayleigh. "I gotta go; things are getting ugly down here."

She nodded. "I'll call you guys if I hear anything; I know Manoso didn't kill anyone."

"Stay safe Kayleigh, and avoid red pickups."

"Believe me, I will do. You watch your back too, girl."

I left her apartment and cautiously crept down the stairs; no sign of Joe. The street looked clear, so I dashed down the nearest alley, skirted piles of trash and headed for Comstock. My legs ached and my lungs burned as I jogged the mile to Jimmy's. Gah, I needed to hit the gym more.

When the bar was in sight I slowed to a walk, hand clutched to the stitch in my side; all I had to do was find Jimmy and then I could meet back up with the guys. Or maybe not – two large black trucks pulled out of a side street and rolled to a stop in front of the bar. If they weren't Black Hawk trucks, then I was the tooth fairy! This was not funny; the day was going from bad to worse. Maybe I could just rewind back to this morning to when I woke up naked with Ric, and never get out of bed again. I stepped into an access road and peeked back into the street; Tank, Hal, Manny and Cal were out on the sidewalk, loaded for bear. Guess Toni needed another plan.

I called her with the bad news, and I could hear Lester in the background relaying the information to the bar on another line.

"This is fucked up," she gritted out.

"Tell me about it," I groused. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Toni let out a sigh; she seemed to be doing a lot of that today. "Give me ten, and I'll pick you up on my bike; I'll track you through the GPS in your cell, so if you have to move on, don't worry about it."

"There's a GPS tracker in my cell?" I all but yelled.

"It's SOP," she replied calmly. "How else am I supposed to keep tabs on the crew?"

"Fine, we'll argue about this later, just get your ass over here." I muttered as I hung up. Since when was I part of Ric Manoso's crew? Shit, there was no going back now; guess I must have taken the red pill without realizing. And look how well it turned out for Neo. Yeah, I was screwed.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: **I would like to thank everyone that reviewed that last chapter. I know I haven't thanked any of you personally, and I'm very sorry for that. My PC has been in bits for the last three weeks, and that has made my life pretty hellish writing wise. Still, I hope to appease you all by giving you an angst-tastic update. I hope you all enjoy. Ya'll any idea just what is really going on yet?

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Sixteen**

"Shit!" I exclaimed as I hauled myself off of Toni's Ducati.

She cut the engine, tugged off her helmet and grinned at me. "What?"

I took a couple of steps on shaky legs. "You are a mad woman!"

"I'm the mad woman that saved your arse, love," she replied as she got off the bike with practised ease.

"But did you have to take us on a back alley chase of the Stark and Comstock neighbourhoods?" I asked as I staggered to the elevator and used the wall to hold myself upright.

"Better than you having a little chat with Tank, don't you think? I mean I could have left the pair of you to discuss whole the stunning his 2IC in a store room incident. You think after he'd shackled you in the back of his truck that he'd have let you go once you'd explained that you only stole the gear to hunt down his arch nemesis Ricardo Manoso?"

I thunked my head against the concrete block wall a couple of times. "Okay, so I appreciate you hauling me out of the shit, I just feel like my life flashed before my eyes a couple of times on the way over here. And you're sure that you lost them?"

Toni pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of her bike jacket and lit up, the battered Zippo illuminating her face for a second in the dark garage. "We lost them on Comstock when that truck pulled out in front of them, and I cut down that alley. Chill out Steph; it's all good. Do you seriously think that I'd put Ric in danger by returning here if I was unsure that I'd lost the Black Hawk posse?"

I frowned, "No, I guess not. Where did you learn to ride like that, anyway?"

She smirked as she wandered over and hit the call button for the lift. "London, baby; I used to commute to work."

"Crazy, you're totally crazy, Toni," I admonished.

The elevator arrived and she pulled the doors open. "I can live with that; in fact I think it helps to be slightly mad in this line of work."

I shambled inside the car like an old woman, the feeling finally returning to my legs as my adrenalin slowly faded. "And I used to think that my life was insane; then I got involved with you guys, and my life has been turned upside-down in a little over twenty four hours."

"Welcome to the shady world of espionage, Steph," Toni said with smile as she hit the button for the second floor and stubbed out her smoke with the toe of her boot.

The lift carried us swiftly up to the main floor of the warehouse, where Lester heaved the doors open. He greeted his girlfriend with a passionate kiss and twirled her around in his arms, before he set her back down on her feet.

Bobby bumped fists with her. "You have fun out there, Toni?"

"Hell yeah!"

Lester kissed her again, smacked her on the ass and nodded at Ric, "And while you were out playing cat and mouse, the shit's really hit the fan back here, right cousin?"

Ric nodded. "Something like that. We're all wanted for questioning for murders we didn't commit, and now my government handler wants me to set up a meet today with a gang from Newark, who it seems are looking for a supplier for some guns."

Toni frowned. "Interesting that _she_ crawls out of the woodwork right now; you know that I don't trust her, right?"

Ric shrugged. "Yeah, I am well aware of your feelings on that matter, babe. But what am I supposed to do? I could ignore her, but I don't want her and the strange bit of the government taht she works for on my case as well as the Trenton P.D. I'm just gonna have to set up the meet and get it over and done with. Besides, it could well mean nothing, and it is just another bunch of punks looking for more arms to help bolster their street cred."

She stepped up to him and poked him in the chest. "Are you totally fucking crazy?"

He smiled and captured her hand in his. "No more than you are, Toni."

"You can't go out there, Ric," she snapped as she tugged her hand free and planted her hands on her hips. "Let me make the calls, and I'll go in your place."

Lester growled from across the room. "I don't want you out there fucking around with some scum from Newark, baby."

Toni rubbed her hands over her faced and then dragged her fingers through her hair. "I'm the only one who's not wanted for questioning right at this precise moment in time, guys. It won't be the first time that I've done a deal, and I'm quite capable of watching out for myself. Give me the number, Ric and I'll make the call.

He slid his hand into his back pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "I don't like this plan, just so you know."

"Your opinion has been duly noted, Ric, but I'm not sending you out there with a warrant issued for your arse. Give me the damn number."

Ric looked down at the scrap of note paper, sighed and then placed it slowly into Toni's outstretched hand. "If there was any other way of doing this..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be in the office," she replied as she headed out of the room.

I walked over to the breakfast bar and hunted for a clean coffee cup. "Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I think I've had enough excitement for one day."

"Didn't fancy climbing up a drainpipe then, babe?" Ric teased as he came over and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. He seemed tense; the day's events appeared to be catching up with him.

"I'm afraid that if that was some sort of weird ass initiation ceremony dreamt up by you guys then I failed miserably," I said with a smile as I tried to lighten the mood.

He hugged me tight to him and kissed my neck. "We're not that cruel and unusual, babe."

"Glad to hear," I laughed. "Coffee?"

"Mmmm," he murmured into my neck. "Sounds good to me."

I looked over to Bobby and Lester who were now both sprawled out on the couch. "You want some too, guys?"

They both nodded.

"Better fix one for Toni too," Lester added.

I re-filled the machine and assembled the cups on the counter. "You know, after the morning I've had, I could really do with a doughnut."

Ric grimaced. "None of them in my kitchen, babe, sorry."

"You're not normal, you know that?" I teased.

He just shook his head and retrieved the milk from the fridge. "Who says that I want to be normal?"

I studied him closely. "You're telling me that you wouldn't give all this up for a quiet life, 2.4 kids and a picket fence?"

Bobby snorted from the other side of the room. "Like I can see that happening, sweetheart."

Ric poured the coffee and slowly stirred milk into his mug. "I'm not sure about the 2.4 kids or the picket fence, but some days a quiet life sure sounds like a mighty fine idea."

"Amen to that brother," Toni called out as she re-entered the room and snagged a cup of coffee.

I glanced over at her and noticed that she'd changed out of her bike leathers and into what looked like urban combat gear: black shit kickers, urban print combats, a black tank top with a Kevlar vest strapped on over the top, knives sheathed at both wrists and a black hoodie that was tied around her waist.

"You packing enough firepower?" Ric asked her, his tone serious.

"Boot knife, pair of throwing knives, switchblade, baby Glock, and my shoulder rig with Sig Saur's is in my truck along with an MP5 and a sawn-off under the back seats. Tracker is in my cell phone along with the one on my Land Rover, and I think I have a small crate of grenades in the back storage compartment too, maybe some flash bangs as well. That okay, boss?"

Ric nodded. "I guess that it will have to do; shame that you don't have eyes in the back of your head. I could come with you, stay in the truck."

Toni shook her head and then nailed Ric with a stern glare. "You will do no such thing, buster; you will stay here and behave yourself. Got that?"

"Sure, I guess," he replied hesitantly.

"Ric," she gritted out, "Promise me you will stay here."

He stared at the floor, and looked clearly unhappy with the situation. Finally he spoke, "Okay, I will."

"Scouts honour?"

"I wasn't in the Scouts, babe."

"I could make you cut your hand open, and you could swear it in blood if you like?" she offered.

Bobby sniggered from the other side of the room, but Toni and Ric both ignored him.

"Well?" she prompted after his continued silence. "Now is not the time for some sort of stupid hero shit, man."

Ric finally caved, I could tell by the look on his face. "Okay, Scout's honour, or whatever makes you happy. I promise to stay here and stupidly let you go to Newark all by yourself."

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "I'll keep my back to the wall at all times, don't you worry. I spoke with the head honcho of this little cadre of scum and I'm pretty sure that things will be fine. I'll just get a feel for the situation and find out what sort of hardware they are looking for, and then get the hell out of dodge. Okay?"

"Fine, so when do you leave?"

She glanced at her watch. "Actually, I better get moving in a second, as I'm meeting them in a couple of hours and I want to get there first and scope the area out before hand."

Lester came over, spooned what looked like half a bag of sugar into his coffee and gave it a vigorous stir. "I'll walk you down to the garage, baby."

Toni rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine, honey."

"I worry about you," he whispered.

"I'll be fine," she repeated as she took a sip of coffee. "Do I need to go over the emergency back up plans one more time just to make you boys feel better?"

"Emergency back up plans?" I asked.

Toni glanced over at me. "Passports, money, weapons, safe houses, etc. Just in case the shit really hits the fan."

Ric shook his head. "No, we do know what to do in the event of Armageddon, Toni.

"Just checking, boss," she said with a grin.

"We're all sorted; you've been over it all a thousand times," he admonished. "As much as I hate to say it, you need to get moving so you can make sure the meet is secure."

She looked around at me and smiled. "I'll catch you later Steph; try and stay out of trouble for five minutes."

"Hey!" I replied. "That's not fair, and you know it."

"Maybe," she smirked as she walked to the couch bumped fists with Bobby. She then pulled Ric into a hug, and finally kissed Lester passionately.

Bobby groaned and lobbed a coaster at the pair. "Get a room!"

Toni pulled back from her lover and headed for the open elevator car. "No time for that, sorry."

"Watch yourself, baby," Lester called out as she began to shut the gates.

"I'll do my best. I love you, Les," she called back as she clicked the inner gate shut and hit the button for the garage. She held eye contact with him until she disappeared from sight, and Lester went straight for a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka.

Ric sent him a stern glare. "Chill, brother."

Lester shook his head. "I don't like it, okay?"

"Neither do I, but what choice do we have?" his cousin replied.

Tension was heavy in the air again and I tried my best to diffuse it. "So, what can I do to help?"

Ric turned back to look at me, his expression softening slightly. "We still need to go through that list of red pickups, I'm afraid."

I nodded. "Sure, I can do that."

* * *

Nearly three hours later, and I was working on a headache, my eyeballs felt like they had been attacked by sandpaper, and my ass was asleep. The work was very slow going – cross-checking all the names on the list with a basic search programme to see if they had any priors for anything that might fit the bill of a serial killer, or if they had crossed paths with Ric and his gang. So far I had uncovered a grand total of zero leads, and I was fast losing heart that this would give us any fresh leads or anything to go one. I just hoped to hell that Toni's new cameras turned up something more useful.

The office door clicked open and Ric came in carrying a steaming mug of coffee and a plate of sandwiches.

"Thought you could use some sustenance," he said with a smile.

I looked him up and down a couple of times. "I could certainly use something."

He put down the food and kissed me gently on the lips. "Rain check, babe? But I'm sure that later we can-"

The shrill ringing of his cell cut off his words as he snatched it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Toni! What's up, doll?"

I cautiously picked up the chicken salad on rye and peered at the mounds of green stuff – not a drop of a dressing in sight. I wondered if Ric would be offended if I went and searched the fridge of some mayo, or if push came to shove, some fat free dressing.

He sat down on the edge of the desk and ran his fingers through his hair. "Slow down, Toni. Run that by me again; are you sure it's some sort of a set up?"

He winced and held the phone away from his ear, and I could hear Toni yelling at him even from where I was sat.

"Babe, Toni!" he yelled back at her. "Just get the hell out of there and come back here, we'll figure it out when you return. It's not worth the risk, you hear me?"

I put the sandwich down and rubbed his leg with my hand; the conversation he was having did not sound like it was yielding good news.

"No, listen to me," he continued. "Don't hang around and try and figure shit out, just get your ass... Toni? Toni? Toni!"

Ric had gone white, his expression unreadable. He shoved my office chair out of the way, and I went rolling across the floor on my seat. He hastily punched up a screen on the computer. "Toni!" he yelled out again into his cell.

I had no idea what he was looking for, but the screen in question showed what looked to be a street map of Newark. He stabbed at a few keys and then swore, checked his cell display, and then angrily slammed it down on the desk. "Fuck!" he roared.

What the hell was going on? "Ric?" I asked quietly. "What's the matter?"

His cell beeped, signalling an incoming text, and he snatched it up again and read the message. Slowly, he backed away from both me and the computer, the phone slipped from his fingers and dropped to the floor with a dull thud. Ric Manoso looked like he was one step away from a meltdown. Seconds later, the office door flew open and Lester appeared in the doorway clutching his own cell.

"Ric," he choked out, "Tell me it's an error."

Ric took an unsteady step towards his cousin and touched him gently on the arm. "Les..."

"It's an error, it has to be! Check her damn truck, man," he screamed.

"It's gone, I just checked..."

Lester let out a roar, and threw a punch at Ric, who blocked it sloppily, but he seemed immune to the glancing blow that clipped his cheek.

He grabbed a hold of Lester and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry, Les, I really am, She was spooked by something, I told her to get the hell out of there and she'd just gotten back to her truck. Her cell just went dead. Both trackers are gone..."

Lester let out a loud sob, and sagged in Ric's arms. "You're lying, damn it!"

Ric shook his head. "I wish I was, I really wish I was."

I sat there in the corner, and tried to work out what was going on. What had happened to Toni? Lester was openly sobbing now and had sunk to his knees on the carpet. Ric still had his arms wrapped around him, had joined him on the floor and was rocking him slowly. Shit, this was bad, this was very very bad.

I glanced up and saw Bobby standing in the doorway. "I got a text to say that both Toni's personal tracker and the one in her truck had gone off line. I tried her cell just now and I got an out of service message; what the fuck has happened?" he asked.

Ric looked over at him. "I don't know, man. All I know is that she's gone."


	17. Chapter 17

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Seventeen  
**

Toni was really and truly dead; a slightly bent cop on Ric's payroll from Newark had confirmed that there had been a body in the driver's seat of her burnt out truck. Details of what had actually happened were still slightly sketchy at the moment, and of course the police wanted to check dental records etc to I.D the body, but like Ric had said, who else could it be.

I'd not even known her twenty four hours, but her death had certainly shaken me up; she'd seemed like a pretty decent person. If what I was feeling was anything to go by, I couldn't even begin to understand what the guys were going through right now. Lester was currently sprawled out on the couch and heavily sedated. The poor guy had literally fallen apart at the seams and left his cousin and his best friend with no choice but to pump him full of something to knock him out before he seriously hurt himself. His best friend was, at this moment in time, sat in the arm chair with his head in his hands, bottle of whisky in front of him on the coffee table with a fair amount of it already gone. Bobby was spooked by the death of Toni and emotionally drained by battling with his own grief and his friend's meltdown.

Ric was pacing back and forth between the back of the couch and the far wall of the kitchen. His hair was mussed, his eyes dark and haunted, and he seemed to be wearing his heart on his sleeve. I watched him pass in front of me from my seat at the breakfast bar for what must have been the one hundredth time and he reminded me of a caged tiger that I'd once seen at the local zoo when I was a kid. I decided that I had to do something. "Ric?"

He ignored me and continued to pace.

"Ric?" I said again softly.

He stopped mid-pace and turned his head to look at me. His face was still raw with emotion and I could clearly see the pain in his eyes, but it was if he was looking straight through me and I wasn't even there.

He resumed his agitated pacing for another few trips, before he stopped halfway to the back wall, turned abruptly and zeroed in on Bobby. "We need to move, brother."

Bobby's head snapped up. "You think that's a good idea?"

Ric shook his head. "Something fucked up is going down, man. How long are we gonna be safe here?"

"Okay," Bobby replied as he got to his feet. "You want to crack open the safe?"

"Sure," Ric replied. "I'll pull the paperwork together and you go pack. Weapons first, then anything else you think we can salvage."

"Ric?" I asked.

He turned slowly to me. "What?"

"What's going on, where are we going?"

"We're splitting, babe. And you're leaving; the sooner the better."

I frowned. "What do you mean I'm leaving?"

"I can't… I won't take you where we're going, Steph. You need to go back to your life."

I stood up, the bar stool grated across the floor nosily and I glared at Ric. "Don't you dare tell me what to do, buster!"

"To quote a line from a favorite film of mine, babe, 'I may be a bastard, but I'm not a fucking bastard.' There is no way on this earth that I'm going to haul you away with us into the unknown. We might not even make it across the border, and I don't want you being dragged down with us if the shit hits the fan. Go live your life, Stephanie Plum, and forget that you ever met me. It's better that way, believe me."

My fists had clenched tight and I was fighting back tears. "How can you say that, Ric?"

He shrugged. "I can say it with ease because I care about you. I'm not a good guy, and there is no way that I want to pollute your life anymore than I already have now that everything's gone to ratshit. You need to listen to me, Steph, if there was any other way…"

I choked back a sob. "I thought we had something…You don't have to leave."

"No babe, it has to be this way, don't you see that?"

I shook my head. "No!"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't have time for this; I want to be on the road before Lester comes to."

I bit my lip and dropped my chin to my chest. "Lester's girlfriend is dead, the cops are after you, and you're just gonna waltz off into the sunset? Don't you want to find out what happened to Toni, or the dead girls?"

"They're fucking dead, Stephanie," Bobby spat out from across the room. "What damn difference does it make? I know that I don't want to be next, or Ric or Lester; we've lost so much already and I don't think I can take it if we lose anyone else. Just listen to the man and get the hell outta here."

I stiffened and jerked my head up. "Fine, if that's how it's going to be."

Neither man answered me.

"I'll need a ride across town to my car," I continued.

Ric tossed me the keys to his Porsche. "Keep it; title's in the glove box. I don't need it where we're going."

I caught the keys in my hand. "I'll get out of your way and go pack then."

"You do that, babe," Ric replied without any emotion.

* * *

Two hours later and I was back across town and in the process of hauling my possessions out of the Porsche and into my apartment. I didn't want to be here; I wanted to be with Ric. Unfortunately that was not on the cards for today. I choked back a sob; would I ever see him again? I had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do. In fact I could not believe that he could split town so easily and cast me aside like an old rag. I felt used and more than a little hurt right now. I guess I could sort of understand what he was thinking, but it didn't make it hurt any less. I wanted Ric back, I wanted to wake up in his bed again like almost everything was alright with the world. Damn it, this wasn't fair!

I shoved the last of my clothes back in my closet and slammed the door shut angrily. I needed chocolate, I needed ice-cream and I needed Ghostbusters. I stopped mid stomp to the freezer as inspiration hit me. All I had to do was clear Ric's name and find out who had killed his girls and Toni, and then he could come back. I still had the new cell that Toni had given me. It didn't just contain her number; she had also put Ric's in there as well. I could contact him when I had cleared this mess up and then we could pick up where we left off. Now that was a plan. I was a woman on a mission, but this woman needed help. I needed access to resources that were outside of my scope; I needed Tank and Black Hawk. Could I just roll up at their offices and stroll right on in? I was a Burg girl, nothing could phase me. I'd just get back in the Porsche and motor right over there now and explain everything to Tank. Shit, I didn't care what it would take, I would make Tank listen to me, his past history with Manoso be damned!

I snagged the keys off the table just as my unlocked front door swung open. Manny and a guy I'd worked with once or twice who was known as Zero, stepped into my apartment and stopped in the hall.

Zero crossed his arms over his broad chest and glared at me. "Someone wants a word with you."

I frowned. "Excuse me?"

Manny smirked. "Seems that you've been a very naughty girl, Ms Plum.

I backed up a couple of steps and waved the car keys. "I was just on my way over to see Tank right this second."

The Black Hawk guys exchanged a look that I couldn't quite decipher and Manny pulled out his stun gun and stepped forward. "I'm pretty sure that Tank would like to speak to you at some point in the near future, love, but I'm here on behalf of a good friend of mine, someone who is really not very happy with you right now."

What the hell was going on?

Zero scowled. "Seems like you damaged his rep, little girl, and we can't have that."

"You mean Hal?" I asked incredulously.

Manny moved even closer. "To lead him on like that, you little hussy, and then to stun him; really not a very smart thing to do, lady."

I backed up a little and put the couch between us. If I could make it into my bedroom then I could get out via the fire escape. This was not freaking funny; I couldn't believe that Hal had sent the goon squad around just because stunned his stupid ass.

Zero moved up to flank his buddy. "You realize that he's on monitor duty for the next month because of you? I think that the least you can do is apologize."

I took another step towards my bedroom. "How about I send him a 'Sorry I Stunned You' card?"

Manny growled and then moved left, while Zero went to the right of my couch. If I didn't make a run for it now then I was toast, and playing nice with Hal was not high on my list of things to do today, or any day to be honest. I pointed over in the general direction of the front door and let out an ear piercing scream. Both men did as I expected and whipped around, drawing guns as they turned. As soon as they moved I ran. I slammed and locked my bedroom door behind me. It wouldn't hold them for long, so I went straight for my window and the fire escape.

I could hear both men yelling from the lounge as I scrabbled at the window lock. My shaking hands combined with sweaty fingers made it difficult to dislodge the catch. Finally after what seemed likea lot more than a few frantic seconds, the lock swung open. I hauled the sash up, just as someone put a boot to my bedroom door, and I foolishly risked a glance over my shoulder. Splinters of wood flew everywhere as the door shot open and smacked into the wall. Fuck!

I straddled the sill and put one leg out onto the old fire escape and then swung my other leg over and just as I was home free, an arm shot out and grabbed me around the ankle.

I screamed and cursed, but Manny wouldn't let go. I was unarmed and had no way of dislodging him.

Zero walked up behind him and leered at me. "Going somewhere, chica?"

"Fuck you," I gritted out.

He looked me up and down slowly. "Maybe later, once Hal's finished with you."

Manny laughed at his partner. "Join the queue, brother."

Shit! This was not good. I made another concerted effort to dislodge Manny and the bastard flipped his stun gun on and zapped me on the leg. The world went hazy and the last thing I remembered was everything titling sideways.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: **Okay, I admit it, I buggered up totally. I'm afraid that in the UK stun guns are only in the hands of the police, so I'd taken bits and pieces about what I'd read about them in fics and assumed that it was correct. When I did do some research, I realized that they don't actually knock you out, but I'd already gone with that idea in the last chapter. So I'm gonna leave it in, much to my annoyance, but at least next time I'll have my facts straight. Sorry.

I also want to thank everyone for the amazing reviews. Seems that I've got a few new followers to this fic; I'm so glad that you decided to give dark Ranger a try. I'm hoping to get this fic squared away by Christmas, so please review, beg, yell and threaten me with violence etc and maybe I can get my muse sorted and finally put this marathon fic to bed.

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Eighteen**

By the time I was conscious and had regained full control of my faculties, it was obvious that I was still in my apartment. In fact, I was lying on my bed and fully clothed. This just didn't add up, as the last thing I could remember was Manny stunning me as I'd tried to escape out of the window. I wasn't quite firing on all cylinders just yet, but I managed to sit up. There was a sheet of paper next to me on the bed covered in semi-legible scrawl. I picked it up cautiously, as I was more than used to strange people leaving notes in my apartment, and the majority of the time it was never a good thing. The note said that I needed to be more aware of my surroundings and to get the hell out of there, as who ever had written then note – it wasn't signed – had left the renegade Black Hawk boys hog tied in my living room.

The note went on to say that while I was to avoid the Black Hawk crew at all costs, I should go to Tank for help. It then instructed me in minute detail how to get into Tank's penthouse apartment in the Black Hawk building, how to scramble the cameras with an all important magic key fob and commandeer the elevator. What freaking key fob? I glanced around my room in a groggy haze, and sure enough there it was on my night stand. It looked like I was on the move again, and damn it, I'd only just finished unpacking!

I pulled myself together, scooped a handful of clothes into a small duffle, picked up my toothbrush and deodorant and then edged towards my living room. Manny and Cal were indeed hog tied in the middle of the floor. I bit back a grin as I observed the still comatose pair – served the bastards right. Whoever had done this outstanding deed would certainly be getting my most heartfelt thanks for their swift intervention to what could have been a very desperate situation – if I ever worked out whom my savior was, that is.

I suppressed the urge to kick both the Black Hawk men in the nuts, but only just, then snagged the keys to Ric's Porsche and my pocket book and got the hell outta dodge.

The sleek black car still smelled of him; a heady combination of leather, alpha male and the shower gel I found in his bathroom. I took a deep breath and inhaled his intoxicating scent, before I turned the engine over and motored out of the lot.

Rush hour was long gone by now and I steered the car almost on auto pilot in the direction of Haywood. In fact I was only a couple of blocks away when I realized my problem- there was no way that I could park in the garage if I was supposed to be keeping a low profile. I made an illegal U turn, flipped off a handful of pissed drivers and made for the multi story car park a couple of blocks over. I didn't want to leave a car of this value in an alley or side street, as that was just asking for it to be stolen.

I picked a floor at random from the eight on offer and then parked up in the middle of level, as I figured that sticking it on the top or in a dark corner would only attract attention – attention that I could well do without.

I grabbed my bag and then checked over the glove compartment. There were a couple of hand guns and some spare clips in there, along with a cell phone, and a roll of bank notes. I swiped the lot into my pocket book, locked and armed the car and set off in the direction of Black hawk with the key fob and instructions in the front pocket of my hoodie.

The closer I got to the low-profile hi-tech building on Haywood, the more I began to panic. I wiped my sweaty palms on the back of my jeans and took a couple of deep breaths on a vain attempt to calm my nerves. It didn't work, and with every leaden step I took I had to suppress the urge to vomit. I could do this, no, I had to do this, as I had no desire to run into Hal and his merry band of thugs again.

The garage entrance loomed up before me and I paused out of sight of one of the external cameras and re-checked the note. I needed to lean around the corner, point the doohickey in the direction of the elevator and wait for a light on it to flash green – that would indicate that the cameras were disabled. I then had to repeat the rigmarole once in the lift to gain access to the seventh floor and then finally, I should use the fob to get into the pent house. Piece of cake, right?

Mmmm, cake… maybe I should go get a donut and regroup? Surely I could handle the stress better if I'd had a couple of Boston Crèmes and maybe a couple of jelly ones too. Or maybe I'd just hurl on my sneakers? Yeah, hurling sounded like the most I could actively achieve right now.

Nope, suck it up, Plum, you're a grown woman! I needed to do this to help Ric. If I didn't help Ric then I would never seen him again, we'd never find out who was killing the hookers down on Stark and we'd never find out who killed Toni. I blinked back tears as I thought of her again and also as I thought of her lover and how he'd reacted to the terrible news.

Was all that only this afternoon? It felt like a lifetime ago. I thought of Toni and the dead women one last time and finally found the courage I needed. I crept up to the garage entrance and peered inside the dark expanse of concrete. It looked empty, so I pointed the gizmo at in the direction of the lift and hit the button. A little LED flashed red a handful of times and then turned green. I had five minutes before it would revert back to the normal feed, so it was best if I moved now while I still had an ounce of courage left in my weary body.

I scuttled to the elevator, hit the call button and then had another panic attack. What if someone was in the lift? I watched with growing trepidation as the panel flashed up ever decreasing little red numbers as the car travelled down from the fifth floor. Finally the doors slid open to reveal an empty elevator and I dashed inside and pressed the key fob again. The lift control panel lit up like a Christmas tree and conveyed me straight up to the top floor without stopping, and when the doors reopened as I was certainly breathing a lot easier.

A plain white door was positioned in front of me and I did the button thang one last time and then turned the brass handle. The door clicked open and I paused as I began to wonder what on earth I would do if Tank was actually in there, and also what I would do if he wasn't. It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I didn't want him to be there, but I didn't want tossing out of a window later if he came back and found me playing Goldilocks.

Damned if I do and damned if I don't, I figured as I dredged up my last reserves of courage and stepped into the dimly lit apartment. The small foyer was subtly illuminated with up lighters on the off white walls; there was a sideboard against one wall with a silver dish full of keys set on top of it and a door that led to a tasteful cloakroom. I trod silently across the plush cream carpet and moved further into the apartment. The room opened up into a vast living space with an open kitchen area at one end, and there leaning against the counter with a bottle of beer in his hand was Tank. He was staring right at me with an unreadable expression on his face; he must have known that I was there all along.

"Hi," I offered weakly.

He tipped his bottle in my direction in greeting. "Steph."

"So…" I said as I shuffled my feet and jammed my hands in the pocket of my hoodie.

"Busy day?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"I…" what the fuck was I supposed to say to him? That stupid note didn't tell me that did it?

"Beer?" he asked neutrally.

"Sure," I responded as I tentatively took a couple of steps towards him. "I got this note…"

"I know," he replied as he crossed the room and handed me a beer. "You wanna sit and tell me what you know?"

"You want to explain to me what the hell is going on?" I demanded before I could stop myself, and my hand flew up to cover my traitorous and stupid mouth.

Tank smirked. "It's complicated."

"No shit!" I retorted. What the hell was wrong with me, did I have some sort of death wish? I'd never ever antagonized Tank before, so why on earth was I doing it now?

"Shhh," he said as he put his finger to his lips. "You'll wake her up."

Oh shit, did he have Lula stashed up here? Had I busted in on them having… no, so not going there. I took the offered bottle and downed a good portion of it. "Can you promise me something?"

"Depends on what it is, Steph."

I sat down on the far end of the couch, my rationale being that it would be harder for him to pick me up and toss me out of a window if I was sitting down. "That you'll just hear me out and that you won't lose your temper."

He grinned and settled at the other end of the sofa. "I'll try my best."

I took a deep breath and fixed my gaze on the blank flat screen TV in front of me. "I've been hanging around with Ric Manoso – trying to help him find out who was killing some of his girls on Stark."

"Tell me something I don't know," he drawled.

I whipped my head around and glared at him. "What do you mean you know?"

"I know pretty much everything that goes down in Trenton, Steph. It's my job to know what is going on, amongst certain other things."

"But he's your arch nemesis!" I yelled. "Aren't you supposed to be mad with me or something?"

"Keep your voice down," he hissed. "Not everything's black and white, sweetheart; this whole mess is really complex. You've only uncovered the tip of the iceberg."

"What the hell is going on?" I gritted out. I wasn't sure how many more nasty surprises I could handle today. "Half the hookers on Stark are dead, Toni is dead and you just sit there and tell me that all this is complicated!"

"Will you keep your voice down," Tank grumbled. "In fact, will you just shut up and please let me get a word in edgeways."

There was movement behind me. I whipped my head around and promptly dropped my beer.

"You trying to wake up the dead with your goddamn racket, Plum?"

I tried to form a coherent sentence. Shit, even a single word would do right now. "You…" I eventually managed.

"I am tired, and totally and utterly emotionally fucking drained, so if you'd keep it down, then it would be most appreciated."

I nodded dumbly. "Sure, I'm sorry. I just…"

She nodded "No worries, Plum."

Tank tipped his head back to look at her. "Go back to bed, honey; I'll wake you up later."

"Don't go drinking all my beer, Pierre," she threatened, before she vanished back into the bedroom and shut the door softly behind her.

"But… I thought…" I said incoherently.

Tank patted me on my knee. "Don't worry about it, Steph. You want another beer?"

"Yeah, please. I'm sorry, I thought that she…"

"I know. Let me clear up this mess and then we'll talk, okay?"

Okay, what the hell was going on? Since when did my totally screwed up world depart even further from reality?


	19. Chapter 19

Here's a little early Chirstmas present for you all. Enjoy!

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Nineteen**

Tank mopped up the puddle of beer from his cream wool carpet in silence, while I sat there and wondered if spilling beer in his apartment was the sort of thing that would result in me being relocated to the bottom of the river or the South Pole.

Tank grinned. "Chill Steph; it's just a carpet. And I'm not surprised that you were shocked when you saw Toni walk into the room."

I shook my head. "She's supposed to be dead; her truck blew up, her cell and trackers went offline. Shit, Lester thinks that she is dead. Hang on, does he really think that she is dead, or does he know that it was an act? Hell, if he knew that she was alive then it was certainly a damn good act, and-"

Tank held up his hand. "Shush, Steph. Just turn that brain of yours off for a minute will you? Go get some more beer from the fridge."

"Which brand is Toni's?" I asked. I certainly did not want to steal her beer.

"I'll have a Corona; you can get whatever you like."

"But Toni-"

He cut me off again. "Pick whatever you want. She shouldn't be drinking the damn stuff anyway."

Huh? I wandered over to the fridge, got a Corona for Tank, decided to bypass the strange imported stuff of Toni's and selected another Corona for myself. I popped them open, returned to the sitting area and decided to be thankful that it wasn't red wine that I had tipped on the off-white carpet.

Tank accepted the beer, tossed the dish towel straight into the sink from where he stood, and then sat down in the huge armchair and propped his bare feet up on the coffee table. "So, I expect that you'd like me to explain a few things to you then?"

I sat down at the far end of the couch, took a small sip of beer and tried not to look at his huge feet without blushing. You know what they say about men with big feet, right?

"Steph?"

I couldn't help myself, and blushed a nice shade of crimson. "Sorry."

"You want me to explain what is going on?" he asked again.

"Please."

"First up, I got one simple rule, sweetheart."

"Okay…" I said hesitantly.

"I don't bite, you know," he said with a grin. "Where was I? Oh yeah, this intel goes no further. Got that?"

I nodded. "Sure, no worries, not a problem." Like I wanted to get shot for talking. And anyway, just like with Ric last night, who the heck would I tell anyway?

"Right, so I presume that you know that Ric Manoso works for the government?" he asked.

I sat there in silence. Ric had told me that no one knew about his other job, so was I supposed to tell Tank that I knew about it? Then again, Toni knew, and she was alive and well and sleeping in Tank's bed, so if Tank already knew then it wasn't me that had told him, so I wasn't really betraying anyone's trust. Finally I nodded.

He smirked. "Warring with your conscience?"

I scowled. "Of course."

"You're a damn fine ally, Stephanie Plum," he said with sincerity. "Anyway, so Ric unofficially works for the government. Toni works for MI6, but she also works for the US government. She's not a double agent per se, but after the American authorities found out she was over here, they decided to put her cover to use for their own ends. Like Ric, she didn't get much of a choice in it."

"It's a mess," I offered. "No one is who they seem to be."

"Pretty much, girl. Anyway, I work for the government too, which I suppose is not exactly the revelation of the century now, I guess. Toni knows the full score of who's who and shit, but Ric's in the dark. And I hope he stays that way as he's been dragged far enough into this mess as it is.

"But what about your sister, Janie? I thought that you hated Ric."

Tank smiled sadly. "I did for a while, but I forgave him a long time ago. My sister was a junkie and he really did try to get her clean. He tried to keep it from me because he knew how I would react; he only ever had my best interests at heart. The only reason I behave the way I do is because I'm simply keeping up appearances, and it doesn't mean that I enjoy doing it."

"You could talk to him, Tank," I suggested.

"I've got a cover to maintain, just like he does. Maybe one day when we're both old and retired and sitting in some bar watching a game then things will be different, but right now that's just the way it is."

I took a sip of beer and mulled everything over in my head. So Ric Manoso worked for the government, and as far as he was concerned, no one other than me and Toni knew this. In reality, Tank, Bobby and Lester all had a pretty good idea of what was going on as well.

Toni worked for MI6, which didn't seem to be a very big secret. However, she also worked for the American government, was currently pretending to be dead and was hiding out in Tank's apartment. The only person who seemed to be clued in on all of this apart from myself was Tank.

And Tank… well he worked for the government, seemed to know a lot of things that I'd never have expected him to have known and was working with Toni. But why he was working with Toni was still a mystery, along with why she was 'dead' and why someone was running around Trenton and murdering prostitutes.

Tank laughed. "Confused yet?"

I nodded. "Maybe you could draw me a diagram or a flow chart or something. How do you manage to keep all this stuff straight in your head?"

"I've had a long time to get used to all this shit, Steph."

"Okay, so I think I've got most of this sorted, but there are a couple of things I'm still not clear about. First off, why is Toni hiding out here, and second, who's killing those women?"

Tank rubbed his hands over his face and slouched down a little further in his chair. "Toni… As for the reason why, that's not for me to tell you. What I can tell you is that a situation arose and she needed extracting. And the murders, well I think you've got about as much information about those as I have. I honestly don't know what is going on there, other than someone is trying to frame Ric."

"So what do we do now? Someone told me to come here after rescuing me from some of your men, and I guess it wasn't Ric… Hang on, did you know that Hal sent the goon squad around to my apartment, mister?"

"Toni saved your ass; she decided to keep an eye on you until she knew that you were safe. And Hal, well he's a little pissed right now, Steph," Tank replied with a smirk.

"Pissed?" I gritted out. "He sent some of his buddies around to attack me!"

He snorted. "You did stun him, sweetheart. And I'm still unclear as to why you did that. Care to explain?"

"I needed a tracker."

He raised an eyebrow.

"For Ric. He asked me to look into the killings, but I didn't want to actually have to work with him. So in order to avoid him I needed to fit a tracker to his Porsche . I figured that the best place to get one from was here, you weren't around and I wasn't about to tell Hal why I needed one, so I, you know… improvised."

Tank laughed. "I've seen the security feed; you certainly got one over the poor dumb schmuck. I'm considering putting him on desk duty until he's finished his retraining. Anyway, let's get back on track here; we need to work our butts off and try to sort out the mess Ric is in. He's a useful asset to the government and they've invested a lot of time and money into him and his operations, and so, unofficially, of course, they'd like to see these murders sorted out as fast and discreetly as possible."

I nodded. "Okay, so what next? We were still trying to trace that pick-up before I left Ric's place, but other than that we didn't have much to go on."

He took another swig of beer and frowned. "Yeah, we must be missing something. I was hoping that Toni could tell me a little more about her meet in Newark this afternoon."

"But that was just a rouse to get her extracted, right?"

Tank shook his head. "No, the meeting was legit, just her exit that was orchestrated. I'll see what she has to say once she wakes up."

"May as well grill me now, Pierre; I ain't gonna sleep with the racket you two are making," Toni groused as she shuffled out into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

"You hungry?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Not unless you've got a fresh pineapple or a tub of red pepper pate. I could really do with some nicotine and some caffeine in my system, mind you."

Tank scowled. "You need to quit."

Toni glared at the back of his head. "And you need to stop giving me a bloody hard time, mate. I've tired and stressed and fucking fed up. Do you think I want to be here?"

"Fuck," he muttered as he stood up, crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry, little girl."

Toni burst into tears and sagged against him. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the armchair he had just vacated, before sitting down with her curled up in his lap. He absently made shushing noises and stroked her hair. And I sat there in shock as I watched the big, bad Tank show emotion for a change. Was Armageddon pending?

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" I said almost to myself.

Tank looked up at me, then back to the now sniffling Toni. "Little girl?"

She pulled her tear streaked face away from his chest and gave me a watery smile. "I'm pregnant."

I frowned, took a deep breath and used that time to collect my thoughts before I put my foot in my mouth. I then put on my neutral face and avoided looking at Tank just to be on the safe side. "Lester's?"

Tank laughed and held Toni tighter to stop her from falling off his lap. "Well, this kid ain't mine, that's for sure, Steph."

Toni thumped his chest with her fist. "Shut up; it's not funny."

I slumped back in my seat and blew out a breath. "No, I guess it's not funny at all," I commented. "Your lover and your friends think that you are dead and are on their way across the border as we speak, and I'm guessing that Lester doesn't even know that you're pregnant, right?"

Toni looked away. "It was for the best; we needed Ric and the boys out of the way while we tidied this shit up, and none of them would have left if they knew about the baby."

"But they think that you are dead!" I retorted.

"It was the only way to get them to go," Tank responded. "They're a loyal bunch and they wouldn't leave without Toni; it had to be this way."

"It'll be fine, Plum; you'll see. We'll fix this mess and then they can come home and we'll all live happily ever after, or whatever," Toni said bitterly.

She didn't sound like she was actually a big fan of this plan. "How long have you known about the baby?"

"Couple of weeks."

I shook my head. "Are you nuts? You've been running around Trenton armed to the teeth, climbing up drainpipes and riding around on that damn bike of yours like a lunatic."

Tank punched her playfully on the shoulder. "Yeah, I wasn't impressed with that stunt you pulled earlier, kiddo."

She smiled up at him. "We've both got a very complex cover to maintain, Pierre."

"You always acted like Ric was a bad guy who needed watching; the rest of Black Hawk don't know what is going on, do they?" I asked.

"Nope," he said. "And I hope it stays that way. I run a security and bounty hunting company and Little Miss Psycho here is simply the girlfriend of a local thug. We do not work for the government at all, ever."

Toni scowled. "Excuse me, I'm not just Lester's girlfriend, you know; I'm an integral part of Ric's operation."

Tank grinned. "You're a bit of skirt, Toni, a honey trap, a-"

She pushed herself off of his lap and stomped away from him. "And you're an arsehole!"

Tank went from jovial to angry in the blink of an eye. "Better to be an arsehole than a pregnant bit of skirt, Toni."

"I can't believe that you just fucking said that!" she hollered. "You think I planned this baby?"

"I don't care if you did or did not plan it, but you've managed to seriously put yourself at risk. The suits in the government don't want you involved anymore; you're now a liability."

Toni looked like she was one second from pulling a gun and shooting him. She was way beyond angry now.

"You told the damn government that I was pregnant? What the fuck did you do that for? I told you in the strictest confidence!" she yelled.

Tank stood up and took a step towards her. "I'm your handler and it was in everyone's best interests for me to say something. Are you still going to be running around doing crazy shit when you're eight months pregnant?"

Toni stepped up and slapped him. "How dare you? This is my body and I have the right to choose what I do and when."

Somehow, Tank managed to keep himself in check. "Bullshit! You're too emotionally involved and I had to pull rank on you; deal with it sweetheart."

Things were going from bad to worse. I got up and pushed myself between the pair of them. "Enough! This is not helping anybody right now. Tank, Toni is pregnant, not ill and Toni, Tank just cares about you. Both of you grow up and let us focus on the real issue here!"

Toni shook her head and stepped back. "You're right; I'm just…"

I reached out and squeezed her on the shoulder. "Emotionally unstable?"

She giggled. "Something like that. Pierre, look I'm sorry. You know…"

He pulled her into a hug. "Ah fuck, kiddo. I'm sorry too. Steph's right; I care, I worry. I don't want anything bad to happen to you or the baby. Why don't you sit down and tell us about the meeting today in Newark and I'll make us all some dinner."

"He cooks?" I asked Toni in awe.

She nodded. "Yup, and if you ask him nicely then he'll even make pudding."

"Shit, there goes my reputation," he groused as he went over to the kitchen and started rifling through the cabinets.

Toni flopped down on the sofa and her hand instinctively gravitated towards her still flat belly. "Newark was dodgy as fuck, Tank."

Tank frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"They wouldn't talk to me; said that they were told to speak to Manoso only. Why? That's never been an issue before; any one of us could go to the initial meeting. In fact, it's usually me or the boys that go, just in case it's a set up and it's a rival gang gunning for Ric. Nah, it didn't stack up. The guns they were asking for didn't seem right either. You know what? I can't be sure, but some of those guys looked wrong.

He turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"They didn't look like your usual bunch of punks. In fact, I'd say that they looked more like undercover cops or spooks or something."

Tank pulled a block of cheese out of the fridge. "Mac and cheese okay?"

We both nodded.

He picked up the grater. "Are you sure, Toni? The government wouldn't set their own man up; in fact they want the murders tidied up ASAP so Ric can carry on working for them."

"Maybe it was the Newark P.D," I suggested.

Toni frowned. "They wouldn't touch him either. And besides, Ric's handler would have vetted the guys anyway. She must have thought that they were legit. Something bloody strange is going on here."

"We need to meet with his handler," Tank stated.

"I don't know who she is," Toni replied. "She always calls Ric."

"Pull his cell records and trace the number," he suggested. "Then we can set up a meeting. She won't know that Ric is half way to Mexico yet, will she?"

Toni smirked. "Nah, she wasn't privy to our little exit strategy."

"Good. Pull his cell records while I'm making dinner, little girl."

She hauled herself to her feet. "Yes boss, anything else boss?"

Tank tossed a dish towel at her. "Yeah, less of your attitude, Missy."

"Bite me," she muttered as she disappeared into the bedroom.

"You know," I mused. "Maybe it would just be so much easier if Toni and I headed off after the boys and went to Mexico."

Tank laughed. "You've got it bad, Steph."

"Maybe," I answered honestly. "Are we gonna fix this mess, Tank?"

"Maybe."


	20. Chapter 20

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Twenty**

_"You know," I mused. "Maybe it would just be so much easier if Toni and I headed off after the boys and went to Mexico."_

_Tank laughed. "You've got it bad, Steph."_

_"Maybe," I answered honestly. "Are we gonna fix this mess, Tank?"_

_"Maybe."_

Tank went back to making dinner and then Toni returned to the living room with a laptop and a small bundle of electronics. She placed it all on the coffee table, connected what looked like random wires together, booted up the computer and twisted a strand of her long hair around her finger while she waited for all that confusing technology to do something. I wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but she made it look pretty easy. After a few minutes, she scribbled down a cell number in a tatty notebook and then went back to bashing at the keyboard of the laptop.

Tank handed her a cup of herbal tea. She scowled, but sipped it anyway. Being pregnant did not seem to agree with Toni. Finally she sat back and grinned. "Got a number that triangulates to the FBI offices in Newark. It's also come from D.C a couple of times as well. I'd say that this is the one we're after. And I thought that the FBI would have made this a little bit more difficult for me to figure out. Okay, so now that we've got this chick's number, what do we do with it?"

"Call it?" I suggested.

She snorted. "In case you're forgetting, Plum, I'm dead. And Tank can't do it because he doesn't work for Ric... or the FBI for that matter, and well... he just can't be seen by anybody to be involved in this."

"Who does he work for?" I asked.

"Sector Seven," Toni said smoothly.

I'd heard the name somewhere, but by the way Tank choked on his beer, I suspected that Toni was lying to me. "Forget it. I guess it's not important," I muttered.

"You call the woman," she suggested.

I shook my head. "Oh no! And what on earth would my reason be? I've no need to call Ms. FBI lady, have I?"

"None of us have," Tank said as he slapped a handful of cutlery on the breakfast bar, "But she's the only lead we have to the guys from this afternoon. It could be a dead end, but it might give us a small clue to something."

Toni stretched and yawned. "We're clutching at straws, Pierre."

"Tell me something I don't know, damn it!" he snapped as he banged plates down on the counter.

"We could try and trace the men you met this afternoon, Toni," I said.

"No, we'll never find them again. But we can find this woman," she said with a smile. "Pierre, you still got a safe house in Newark?"

He nodded. "Yes. What are you thinking?"

Toni stood up and took a seat at the bar in front of him. "We head to Newark and get a couple of the girls to keep an eye out for that pickup on Stark Street. Along with the feed from the apartment buildings that I put in earlier, we'll be covered if that guy shows up again. We can trace that cell number and use it to work out who this woman is. Then we can tail her, do some B&E, and see what dirt we can dig."

Tank nodded slowly. "Okay."

I joined them both at the breakfast bar. "I don't see how finding out who Ric's FBI handler is going to change anything or give us any more information."

"I think today was a set up," Toni explained. "Like I said earlier, the men I met set off my bullshit detector. Ric's FBI contact should have vetted the buyers, so if she had then why did everything feel so wrong? I could be barking up the wrong tree, but I'd feel better if I checked this woman out. If nothing else, we can cross her off the list and move on. All I'm saying is that after an awful lot of gun deals that this woman has set up with Ric, why, when the shit is hitting the fan do we get a deal that's not right? This is the first time that we've ever had a problem and it seems very suspicious to me."

"I agree," Tank said was he dished up the mac and cheese. "So we'll eat, load up some gear and head to the safe house in Newark. It may lead us to nowhere, but at least I can say that I feel like we're making some progress on this nightmare."

* * *

The safe house was in a quiet residential street on the outskirts of Newark. I'd never been in a safe house before, but a bland detached bungalow that looked like all the other dwellings on the street was not what I had expected. Maybe I'd been thinking of something like Ric's uber safe warehouse or some sleek top floor penthouse fitted out in chrome and glass. I'd certainly not envisaged this little slice of suburbia.

The truck we'd rode over in – one of Tank's personal fleet – was now parked up under the carport, and the man himself was unloading equipment and supplies from the cargo area. Toni was standing by the back door in the kitchen looking ill at ease. She didn't know what to do with herself as Tank had refused to let her carry any of the bags. His protectiveness was overbearing, and I could understand why she'd not clued Lester in on her 'condition' - there was no way on this earth that he would have left Toni alone for even five minutes if he was aware that she was pregnant. I really hoped that we could solve this case so that Ric, Lester and Bobby could return – they deserved a slice of happiness in their lives and I was pretty sure that this baby would put a smile on all of their faces.

Once everything was stowed away in what Tank deemed to be the proper places, Toni called it a night. I watched as she shuffled off down the hall to her room, hands jammed in the front pockets of her oversized hoodie and her head bowed, hair falling in her face. It was a stark contrast to the young woman I had seen last night tottering around the bad side of town in an outrageous fake fur jacket and spike heeled boots. Toni was hurting. I felt a dull ache in my heart because of Ric's departure, but I could not begin to fathom what she was feeling. For her sake and that of her baby, we had to fix this mess.

Tank came over to stand next to me and he watched Toni make her way to bed. He touched me on my shoulder gently and then walked back to the kitchen. "You want a coffee, doll?" he called out.

I turned away from Toni's retreating form and followed Tank into the brightly lit room and sat down at the large oak table. "I'd love something stronger," I replied.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

I shrugged. "I just want something to numb my emotions for a while."

"Bad idea, little girl," he said solemnly. "Trust me, I speak from experience."

"I won't ask," I said as I watched him battle to keep the emotions he was feeling from showing on his face.

He nodded. "Thank you. You want to know what the best this is to do when you feel like this?"

"No, but I'm sure that you'll enlighten me."

Tank filled up the coffee maker and smiled. "Well, you could get angry, but I find that the best way to channel all this emotion is to get stuck in to something, take my mind off it. We should do some more digging, find that truck and also to come up with a plan for picking up Ric's handler."

"Pick up?" I questioned warily. The last time I had picked anyone up for questioning was a member of a gang. We'd stuffed him in the trunk of the car and taken him out to Vinnie's beach house so we could torture him so he'd give up information. However, it turned out that both Connie and Lula were about as adept at torture and the extraction of information as I was, and in the end Lula had called Tank to come over and make the little punk talk. I really hoped that he didn't have the same sort of plan in mind again.

Tank smirked and I wondered if he was reading my thoughts. "I wasn't planning on chaining her to a sink and hitting her with a Mag Lite if that's what you're thinking, Steph."

I relaxed back in my seat. "Well that's certainly good to hear. What did you have in mind?"

"I was going to haul her out of her bed in the middle of the night, stuff her in the back of my tuck and then handcuff her to one of the kitchen chairs."

I looked at him incredulously. "That was a joke, right?"

Tank just stared at me across the kitchen.

"Okay," I said slowly. Picking up some gang banger was one thing, but a Federal Agent... Could I do this? "Which side are we on, Tank?"

He poured a couple of mugs of coffee. "The side that gets the job done."

I reached out to take the cup he was offering me. "So are we the good guys or the bad guys? Help me out here – I'm a little confused."

"Maybe," Tank said as he fetched the cream and sugar and set them both on the table in front of me, "there is no right or wrong side. Maybe it's just about finding out the truth and protecting those we care about."

I frowned as I fixed my coffee. "So we're the good guys?"

He sat down opposite me and heaped two large spoonfuls of sugar into his drink. "If that's what you want me to say, Steph then sure, we're the good guys."

"Don't patronize me," I shot back.

"Don't ask me dumb ass questions and then I won't have to," he replied. "This isn't a movie, this is real life, little girl. We're simply going to do what we have to do to get the job done. The three of us will all sit down and talk everything though and if at any point you find yourself faced with a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, that pushes you out of your comfort zone, then just tell us and we'll either modify the plan or make sure that you don't have to get your hands dirty."

"You're making me sound like a wuss, Tank. Do you think that I'm going to let you and Toni down?"

He took a sip of his over-sweetened coffee. "I never said that you would, and I don't doubt for a second that you will. However, there may come a time on this job that we may find ourselves faced with limited choices in a dangerous situation and I will need for you to be honest with both Toni and I so know where we all stand."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You mean that you want to be sure that I'll pull the trigger?"

"You could put it like that."

I took another deep breath. "I'm not a killer, Tank."

He fixed me with his dark gaze. "And you think that I am?"

"No! I never said that, I'm just saying that I don't know if I could kill someone."

"You shot Jimmy Alpha."

I shook my head. "That was self defense."

Tank reached out and squeezed my hand. "You'll do fine, I'm sure you will.

"That still doesn't mean that I'm going to stuff the FBI lady into your truck.

He smiled and all the emotion seemed to drain out of his face. I had a sudden urge to flee, to run far away from this man. "You don't have to, Steph – I'll do that and you can drive."

I studied him carefully, half expecting him to yell surprise at me, to tell me he was joking, but he didn't. Just what was I signing on for here?


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:**I am sorry for the lack of updates - my muse has been on an extended vacation. Thank you to everyone who has messaged me asking about this fic.**  
**

**The Dark Knight**

**Chapter Twenty One**

My hand was shaking so badly that it took me a couple of tries to get the key into the back door lock. I was amazed that I'd managed to drive back across town without incident. What had I been thinking?

Thankfully, Toni took mercy on me and tapped in the alarm code – I was pretty sure that the chances of me hitting the tiny buttons in the right order were slim to none. She breezed past me into the kitchen, drew the blinds and then flipped the lights on, before going back outside to signal to Tank.

How did she managed to stay so calm and collected through all of this? I was quaking like a leaf and she didn't seem to have a care in the world. Maybe she was an adrenalin junkie. Okay, scratch that, I knew she was an adrenalin junkie. Still, maybe I was being a little naive, but shouldn't she be showing some sort of emotion?

Tank strode easily into the room from the carport, despite the heavy load he was carrying. Said heavy load was actually ATF agent Ms Sofia Hernandez, or Ric's government handler, if you prefer. Toni had other names for her, but they were pretty colorful, and I wasn't even sure that I understood exactly what some of them meant.

Tank deposited the unconscious woman in a kitchen chair, and then shackled her hands behind her back, the cuffs looped through the back of the seat to keep her in place. Her head was tipped forward and her long black hair obscured her face.

Toni walked over and poked her in the shin with the toe of her boot, but she didn't react. Her gaze flicked over Hernandez, and then she looked to Tank. "How long will she be out for?"

He shrugged. "Another hour at the most. Let's blindfold her before she wakes up. The last thing we need is for her to be able to identify us."

"Don't ya think it's a bit effing obvious, Pierre," Toni drawled.

Tank rummaged through the kitchen cabinets looking for something suitable for the blindfold. "What makes you say that?"

"As soon as we start asking questions about Ric, then Hernandez is going to tumble as to who we are."

He frowned. "Hold that thought, I'll be bask in a sec."

I watched him stride from the room. "I understand what you're saying, Toni, but what else can we do?"

She heaved herself up onto the breakfast bar and drummed her boots against the cabinet door. "There is bugger all we can do, and it frustrates me. We've been tailing this woman for a week, tapping her calls and digging up as much of her past as we could find, and yet we've got piss all to work with. Don't get me wrong, the calls we recorded on Tuesday and Friday to that unidentified man are enough to question her about this whole situation, but I'm worried about the lack of supporting evidence. Where are the files? What about scribbled notes in the bin? We're pinning this whole escapade on her talking about missing merchandise in Trenton, and contacts in Newark."

"Do you think she's got something to do with this mess?" I asked.

Toni shrugged and reached for a banana from the fruit bowl. She turned the piece of fruit over in her hands a couple of times, then pointed it at Hernandez and whispered "bang," before snapping it open and taking a bite.

"Well?" I pressed.

Her face scrunched up in disgust and she slid back to the floor and spat the mouthful of banana into the trash. "Damn it, and I used to like bananas!"

"Toni!" I hissed.

She disposed of the rest of the banana and poked through the cabinets. "You think we have any packet noodles?"

I threw my hands up in frustration and joined her in her food hunt. After leaving no stone unturned in the great Newark Noodle Hunt, we eventually gave up and I sighed in relief when she found something she would eat. My joy was short-lived though, when Toni set about my only jar of olives with a fork. I went to make coffee and was hit on the back of the head by a flying olive.

"Don't even think about it Plum! If you touch that coffee pot them I am not going to be held responsible for hurling all over you. Capiche?"

I turned to face her across the kitchen, and folded my arms. "You have food, and I'm not going to make coffee, so why don't you stop avoiding the issues at hand and start talking? Do you think Sofia is involved in the problems Ric has been having?"

"My gut says yes, but I'd like more than two spurious phone calls to back that up."

I snorted. "Your gut heaves at the smell of coffee, peanut butter and tomatoes. I'm not sure that it is one-hundred percent reliable right now."

"Bugger off, Plum," she shot back. "You know what I mean. Maybe we don't need to find out what she's been up to, maybe we just need to ask her who she's working with – the man in the calls. Trace him and then maybe we can get some answers that finally make some sense."

Tank chose that moment to re-enter the kitchen with one of his black t-shirts in his hand. He folded the heavy fabric over a few times, before securing it over Sofia's head – leaving her mouth uncovered. "Toni has a good point – Hernandez might not put two and two together if we work that angle."

"What angle are you unlikely co-conspirators going to work?" a voice from the direction of the backdoor said.

I turned around to see Ric leaning casually against the doorframe. The dark look in his eyes betrayed his relaxed appearance. I was torn between letting out a shriek of surprise and throwing myself at him. Toni's mouth was opening and closing, but no sounds were forthcoming. Still, despite her shock, she had a Glock in her hand, the jar of olives forgotten. Tank also had pulled a gun. His was leveled at Manoso. At least someone was on the ball.

Ric nodded at me, "babe."

I smiled back, happy that he was safe, but concerned that he was still in the country.

He walked up to Toni, slid the gun from her shaky grip and pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't you ever fucking vanish on me again, girl!"

She nodded against his chest and sobbed into his t-shirt.

Ric pulled back slightly and gave her a small shake. "What the fuck did you think you were doing, chica? Why did you disappear?"

Toni choked on a sob, buried herself in his arms again and began to cry even harder.

Ric seemed very confused. He looked over his shoulder at Tank. "What the fuck have you done to her, you bastard?"

Tank lowered his gun and shrugged. "Hormones," was his one word reply.

"Explain, Pierre," he demanded.

"Where's Lester?"

"He's safe. Now tell me what the hell is going on!"

Tank bristled, "not for me to tell."

Ric drew one of his guns from the small of his back, shifted Toni slightly and pointed the weapon at Tank. "You will tell me what the fuck is going on here!"

"Tank," I hissed, "just tell him."

"I'm pregnant," Toni wailed.

"Shit," Ric whispered. "Oh hell… sweetheart… But why did you leave us, fake your own death?"

"You wouldn't have left without me, pregnant or not. I wanted you to get out of Trenton for your own safety and my handler wanted me out of the line of fire and out of covert work because of the baby. I didn't know if I was ever going to see any of you again, so I thought that it was best to make a clean break and then go back to England. I never meant to hurt any of you, I swear."

Ric hugged her close again, "I wish you had been honest with us."

"Would you have left Trenton if I had told you the truth?"

"Only to follow you… Once I tell Lester about you, about the baby, then he'll glue himself to your side if he has to."

Toni shook her head. "You are supposed to be in Mexico, damn it. Why are you here anyway?"

Manoso turned to face me. "We got half way down the coast when I stupidly announced how much I missed Steph. Then Bobby had this crazy idea to pull up the cell that I gave you, and it was showing that it and you were supposedly at Black Hawk. I became suspicious and we decided to return to find out what the hell was going on. Seems like that was a smart move – we'd have missed so much wouldn't we?"

"I don't think you've missed that much," I replied. "We haven't been able to find anything out. We snatched your government handler in desperation after she made a couple of phone calls that sounded suspicious."

He nodded, "that may be true, but I wouldn't have found one of my best friends working with my enemy, would I?"

Toni shoved Ric away from her. "He's my bloody handler, you twit!"

Ric rolled his eyes, "and that makes it all so much better, right?"

"Stop it," she spat, "Pierre is not your sodding enemy."

"He was last time I checked, right Pierre," Ric sneered.

Tank held his hands up in surrender. "I'd listen to Toni, man."

Ric opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he saw that Sofia was moving slightly, coming around from the drugs.

Toni shoved him out of the way, stepped up in front of Sofia and watched the woman try to get a grip on her surroundings. I had to hand it to her, she wasn't screaming in panic. I knew for a fact that I would have been.

Sofia turned her head slowly to the left and then to the right. We all remained silent as she tried to pick up any sounds that might help her work out her location.

Toni smiled wickedly as she racked the slide on her gun just inches from Hernandez's ear. The bound woman jumped. "Who's there?"

"You want to tell us about the phone calls?" Toni asked in a fake thick Texan accent.

"I don't know what you mean," Sofia replied.

"You wanna get out of here in one piece and wake up safe in your own bed in the morning then you'll tell us who you were talking to on Tuesday and Friday."

"I won't tell you anything."

"Shame," Toni said in a bored tone as she started rummaging through the kitchen drawers. She pulled out a roll of saran wrap and started winding it around Sofia's head. Sofia bucked and struggled, but the cuffs held her firmly to the chair.

"You want to give me the name?" Toni asked as she carried on wrapping. The plastic film had covered Sofia's nose and in another couple of passes, it would have covered her mouth as well. She refused to talk, so Toni finished off the job, tore off the tag end of the roll, and left her sitting there unable to breathe.

I could not watch this, so I turned away. Ric caught my movement and he reached out to pull me into his arms. I relaxed into his warm embrace and hid my face against his chest. If Toni was crazy and hormonal enough to kill Sofia then I did not want to watch.


End file.
